When Determination Runs out (Underfell x Reader)
by TheDiamondPower
Summary: Frisk was able to save the world of Undertale, but what about another world without hope? In this story, I explore the idea of Frisk not being the eight human that saved everything. Instead, you get to take the role of one of the souls, that didn't get a chance a the original game. Which of the souls? Read to find out.
1. Chapter 1 - Fallen down

You peek your head around a corner to find a large and dark room, in the center rests a flower appearing to be identical to the ones in the patch you saw just a moment ago. Upon moving closer, the flower seems to be moving. It turns its "head" up to you, stares at for a few seconds and slumps back over without as much as a word.

"Hello?" you ask, trying to get ahold of the situation.

"You're too late I'm afraid" It says.

Slowly it turns up to face you. "A human not unlike you got killed just minutes ago."

"Oh?"

"And so did all the others that came here. In fact unless you know a way out, you're doomed to be number eight."

"I don't." You answer unsure of what else to say.

"Well, if I were you, i'd just kill myself and get it over with. But I'm not. You're not gonna listen to stupid old me, are you?"

For a moment, you ponder what you're going to tell it. It's not everyday fall over a cliff and meet a talking flower. "I've survived on the internet, this place can't be much worse."

It chuckles. "Humour's typically in short supply around here. I'm going to be enjoying your company." for a moment it seems hopeful before turning sad again. "But that just means I'm going to miss you when you'll be gone."

"I'm still here now…so, can you show around or something like that?"

"Oh of course." It digs itself into the ground and pops up a little further down the room "This here's the exit to the ruins. Before going in there we need to go over some safety rules first."

It tells you all sorts of dangers that apparently fill the Underground. Hostile Monsters, traps and puzzles, but most scary of all the so called "Boss Monsters". It then begins to explain about the humans that fell down here before you. The both of you then continue to the next room, before the flower stops. "You go up ahead, I'll catch up to you in a second."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No I just need to save before we continue."

"School always taught me monsters didn't have determination?" You passively ask

The flower seems to puff up a bit, as if it was prideful "I'm a special case." but again, it's sadness seems to return quickly "But it doesn't matter. The human before you also had determination, even one that was stronger than mine! But… even that wasn't enough to turn this place's luck around."

"Don't worry, we'll figure something." You say, trying to cheer him up.

"I hope you're right." it says "Well, let's go on!"

The two of you continue for a little while. No real trouble as of yet, except for a few simple puzzles the flower seems to have memorized anyway.

"Do you have a name?" You ask the flower.

"Right, I forgot all about introductions didn't I? My name is Fowey, what's yours?"

"My name is-" Before you have the time to answer, Flowey pushes you into a river.

"Someone's coming, hide under the bridge, quickly!" Is all he says before popping into the ground and disappearing in his usual fashion. As fast as you could you did as he said, and hid before anything could see you. It was only seconds before you began hearing footsteps getting closer at a rather unnerving pace. Luckily, it didn't seem to notice you. You carefully peeked out to see a tall monster headed towards where you and Flowey came from. As soon as it left, you began debating whether to leave the bridge and flee, or wait for Flowey to get back to you. Part of you really wanted to get out of the water, most of your clothes was already soaked by now. But if this place is as dangerous as Flowey told you, it could wait.

"Quick! Get up, but don't be too loud."

You turned your head to see Flowey looking down at you from above the bridge. "She's close, but we can get away, if we're silent about it."

You do as he's telling you and begin to crawl up again.

"Sorry about pushing you and all." Flowey

"It's okay, I'm glad you're looking out for me." You tell it "Even though all my clothes is drenched."

"Yeah... sorry, but we should get going. I don't know when she's coming back."

After getting into the next room Flowey stops you in front of a dummy. "I it's time show you how combat works down here."

Flowey pops down and then up again besides the training doll. Flowey then begins to explain how monsters work compared to humans and what effects it has on you:

"Imagine this dummy as a hostile monster. Unlike humans, monster bodies aren't quite as 'Physical' as you are. fighting happens on a much more emotional level, if you desire to hurt someone enough, you can kill them instantly. Of course humans don't work that way, so all the monsters hatred aren't gonna help them more than their weapons are. This is where you have the advantage. Try to focus all of your frustrations and anger into a single hit, and throw it at that dummy."

"Just with my hand?" You ask

"Unless have better weapon with you, then yeah."

You take of the backpack you fell down here with, and begin to look for anything just slightly dangerous. As you realise just how wet it is, a worried thought passes through your mind. As fast as you can you open a the front pocket only to find your notebook (Containing all your homework, drawings, and notes) completely soaked and destroyed. Anger begins to build up in you, and to relieve all the frustration of hours worth of lost work. You take the book and smack the dummy before you as hard as you can with it. Shock fills your eyes as the dummy practically explodes in a cloud of dust, leaving nothing standing left.

Flowey looks slightly shocked at you. "Keep that up, and no one's gonna stop you."

"Sorry I didn't really know what to expect." You state "Does Monsters react like that too?"

"Yep. Anger like that'll put anyone down here out of their misery, and they also turn to dust like that when they die."

"It's kinda comforting to it's that easy, but still. I don't wanna go on a rampage down here."

"I know what you mean." Flowey responds "This place wasn't always this bad, it was actually really nice once. I really wish there was a way we just, turn all this around."

"What holding us back from trying?"

Flowey let's out a breath and says "You haven't seen the rest of this place, it hopeless. No matter how determined I been, it's only lead to somebody getting hurt."

A thought runs through your mind "Hey, if every porkchop was perfect we wouldn't have hotdogs." Flowey giggles at your optimism.

"Did you come up with that yourself? It's kinda nice."

"Nah, it's just something I heard in cartoon. Anyway, determination doesn't solve all your problems. Hopes and dreams can only get you so far. In a world like this, without hope, you need something more." You sit down on one knee trying to get down to flowey eye level "The strength that keeps you going even when things become difficult. The power to keep your head clear in Complicated situations. The will to continue even though the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be gone."

"Isn't that exactly what determination is?" Flowey asks in a confused tone.

"No. Determination is the hope that keeps your going through life. Perseverance is the will to keep going even when that hope seems to be gone. It's exactly what this place needs."

Flowey just stares at you for a few seconds trying to process everything you just said. "It's been a long time since I've actually been feeling hopeful." For once, Flowey's optimism seems to stay. "Then It's settled, with my determination, and your perseverance, we'll save the underground together!" Flowey makes haste to dig himself over to the next door. "Come on! Come on! We have a lot work to do from here."


	2. Chapter 2 - Her

A/N Wow… I had almost forgotten about this. If it wasn't because someone was nice enough to write a review I wasn't planning on actually continuing this. Anyway thanks you Sheazilla, here's finally a new update.

You and Flowey hurry on your way. You run into a spike trap, but just end up swimming around it as you're already drenched. Flowey on the other hand is lucky enough to be able to dig through it. A little after, you come to a long corridor and begin chatting again.

"Back in dark room you told me someone was here just I was. Who were they?"

Flowey slowly moves along beside you, dragging a trail of earth behind him. "I… Didn't know them very well. They were kind of creepy, very silent and weird."

"How did they die?" You ask Flowey

He doesn't make eye contact when he replies: "Suicide."

"That's a downer…"

"Well, you can't change the past!" He exclaims "Not with perseverance at least."

"Wait." both of you stop "Couldn't you just "reload" back before the last human died?"

Finally he turns to look at you "They had determination too. One stronger than mine in fact. I can't save or load past anything involving them. So nope, that's not how it works, sorry."

Flowey keeps looking at you, until he catches sight of something down the hall. "We got company approaching." For a short moment you begin to panic without knowing how to act, it does take long for Flowey to notice this. "Up the hall is pillar, meet me behind it, hurry." And with that he pops into back into the ground. With no better ideas, you quickly dash behind the surprisingly and conveniently placed pillar, that seems to be there for no reason. Flowey's already here, peaking out and presumably looking after the "company"

"Seriously Flowey, this gotta be the most obvious hiding place down here." You whisper

He turns his to look you straight in the eyes. "Well I don't see you coming up with any better ideas!"

"What could I do?"

Flowey thinks for a momment. "Well… SOMETHING! Take that note book and smack her down or anything!"

As fast as you can, you almost rip off your backpack and begin frantically searching for your notebook. Before you can realise you're rummaging through the wrong pocket, you feel something painfully hot hit you. You begin to scream, it keeps up for a several seconds before stopping. Flowey looks at you horrified, but quickly he begins to giggle. Confused, you try and look back to see where it came from. Your vision is clouded by steam and smoke, but waving it away you catch sight of the same monster that you were hiding from in the river. They look shocked. At this point Flowey bursts into laughter.

"Fire magic doesn't work when you're shooting it at someone who's soaking wet."

So explains it then, she's indeed trying to kill you. Flowey just keeps laughing while she slowly begins to shake. This time you get a better look at her. She's really tall, must be something like one meter and ninety. Her face looks a lot like a goat, but her features are more gentle in nature. White fur seems to be covering all of her body, furtherly giving her a goat like appearance. The only thing she seems to be wearing is a large black, white and red robe, with most of the sleeves and lower parts ripped into shreds. She keeps staring at you and you keep staring at her. Both just waiting for the other one to speak. Slowly she stops shaking and breaks the silence.

"If it isn't a human! My sincerest apologies." She grabs a hold of you, causing you to flinch. Quickly she lifts you and places helps you to your legs. "Greetings! I had someone just like you come through here only hours ago. But now they're dead and I won't allow you to follow in their footsteps." Her attitude and unfamiliar nature begins to scare you. "Don't you worry, you stay here I'll be right back." She stand up and reaches a hand in a pocket. "Here call me if someone comes in here begins to tear your little legs off." She drops an old phone in your hands. "That's just a joke, don't worry. They all know this is my territory. I'll be right back little one, goodbye!"

You just stand there for before flowey pops up next to you. "That went a lot better that I dared hope for."

Flowey cracks a smile "Good thing I was there to push into that river huh?"

"Yes, yes whatever. At least you're starting to cheer up."

"All thanks to you." Flowey blushes, well as much as a flower can blush.

"She was really in a hurry huh, she didn't even tell you her name."

"Yeah…" Your gaze moves down to the phone she just gave you, it's seriously old "Where did she even get This? This brick doesn't even have color."


	3. Chapter 3 - A Ghastly Encounter

A/N I don't know how often I'll be able to update this, but now that I have gotten back to it, I think I'm been pretty determined to finish this story, I'm pretty confident I can do at least one chapter a week, maybe more. I don't know, also reviews are appreciated, even if just small ones. If you have ever been creative yourself, whether it would be drawing, writing or something else. You probably know one of the best parts of it is getting feedback for it. Anyway, if nothing else, thanks for reading it.

It didn't take long for the two of you to agree that you weren't going to stay here and wait. After a minute you both get bored, and go on to the next room. It looks fairly peaceful, it's empty except for a few bushes, or so you thought. Flowey already know this one a common place for monsters to assault newcomers.

"What are you gonna do if someone attacks us?" Flowey asks you

"I don't know, I don't think murder is the best place to start if we're hoping to 'save' this place. So I guess we'll have to think of something else."

You took a step forward into the room, scanning it for any signs of life

"I think it's empty in here"

Flowey hesitates "We should still be brief, someone could easily hide in those bushes."

"Why are they so interested in humans anyway?"

"It's a long story, I'll get to that." His sentence is cut off when he pops down and up again, over at one of the bushes "Anyway, there's a bowl of candy in the room to the left. Go take some while I save. You'll need it"

You don't give it much thought, and take his advice. There's not much unexpected to see in there, so you take a wrapped up piece of what you presume to be candy, and be on your way. To Flowey's surprise you continue past the two next rooms without much restraint. Until suddenly, you get a call from Toriel: "Hey, you haven't left the room, have you? Oh what am I saying? Of course you haven't, then you wouldn't have your tiny hands to answer the phone with."

You don't reply

"Oh look at me blabbing on again, do you have a preference in cinnamon or butterscotch?" Before you have the time to reply, she interrupts herself again. "Actually, scratch that. Looks like I'm out of both. Umm… What about aids infected blood? Do you like that?" Without a even a word you hang up. "I think I see what you mean about this place now, Flowey."

Flowey makes a nervus grunt "What did she say?" You pocket the phone "Just forget it." The next few rooms go pretty quickly too. There's a few puzzles, but they're way too simple to give you two any trouble.

Eventually though, you run into someone. In a small passing, you find a black clearly moving thing blocking the way. Flowey turns to look at you at whispers "What do we do?" With no better ideas you politely ask the creature "Hey, could you please move?" Slowly, it begins to float upwards, getting your hopes up that it's actually moving for you. But quickly as it turns to face you, you get feeling it's not full good intentions. It looks like a classic "Sheet faced" ghost, but black rather than white, and with a smiling but clearly miserable face in deep red. The look startles you both, making you take a step back. Noticing this, the ghost spits something red after you, making you let out yelp. It hits your cheek, and instantly begins stinging.

"Oww, why did you do that?" You exclaim, trying your best not to yell.

"Because you are annoying" It rudely responds.

"Well… Sorry?" You say and dodge another shot, now more aware of their attacks.

"Listen, I'm sorry if you had a bad day. But violence rarely solves anything."

"Why do you care? It's not your problem"

"If we're both stuck down here, it is."

For a second they just stand still, or hover still rather, and looks at you "You're a weirdo."

"Weird is a side effect of awesome"

They don't reply. For a few long seconds, the whole room is silent.

"I don't get you, what are you trying to do?"

"Getting you on your good side I guess? You've stopped spitting… Stuff, after me. So I guess it's working?"

The ghost removes their stare away from you and looks troubled before finally speaking. "Can I ask you something?"

A delightful feeling fills you as they finally opens up to you. "Yeah, of course!"

They take a deep breath "Just a second" Their mouth opens and they begin drooling, though before any of it reaches the ground, it collects just below their mouth and forms small, red bow tie. "Does this make me look silly?" they ask

"Actually I think it fits you, but have you thought about getting a hat to go with it?"

They look thoughtful for a second "A hat…"

"I never got your name?" You say, getting back their attention.

"Right, sorry. Napstablook. I'll… I'll have to go, bye" They leave in a classic fading ghost manner, just disappearing.

Flowey perks up behind you, almost startling you. "That was so cool! You actually got that thing to just leave?"

"I'll be honest, that went better than I dared hope for."

"Can I try doing that the next time?"

"Talking around the fight?"

"Yeah, I... you're doing so well down here. I just want to be of help too."

Thinking back at how much Flowey have already helped you, you obviously just can't say no. "Of course, Flowey. We're a team."


	4. Chapter 4 - Fears

A/N Sorry this little chapter took a little longer. Not gonna bore you with the details. I have just been busy, so I actually wrote most of this right before posting it here. Anyway I appreciate reviews I know there's just two right now but I still want you to know it means a lot. If nothing else I know somebody's reading this junk. So thank you. ^^

"Are they okay?"

You had stumbled upon a couple of white frogs, but none of them would respond or even seem to notice you.

"Spiders." Flowey told you. "They're selling drugs down the hall. Just push on."

The thought of spider monsters horrified you. You never liked spiders.

"Are you coming?" Flowey's voice brought you back from your thoughts.

"Where are we even headed?" Despite how long you've been walking, Flowey never told you. Not before now at least:

"I'm leading us to Toriel's house, it's the only way out of the ruins."

'Toriel'. You don't know where, but you've heard that name somewhere before "Who's Toriel, again?"

"You know, the goat women that chased us back in hall." For a moment Flowey stops and peeks back at you. "Sorry I forgot to tell you didn't I?"

"Can't remember actually." Having Flowey around is almost like a tour guide, he's surprisingly acquainted with almost everything in the underground. Or at least with the parts you've been in as of yet. A curious thought hits you "Do you know her?"

"Toriel? Better than most actually. But, we should push on. We're almost there, just a few last puzzles"

It's almost scary how Flowey doesn't even have look, to tell you which button to push. it's all just memorized. Then again, if he's been walking this same path with seven other children… The thought sends a chill down your spine.

"Here we are!"

You look up to see a surprisingly fresh tree in front of a gate. It almost hurts your eyes to see any actual color, aside from the dull shades of red and black that plagues the ruins. Slowly, you can't help but walk closer to touch the lime green leaves. "You never told me you had a brother, Flowey."

"HA, HA, HA. You're so hilarious! Pick on the plants, that's right!"

You almost feel bad for making that joke, almost. Seeing Flowey trying to hold back a smile is enough to tell you he's not taking it personally. For a moment, the two of you just stand and take in the calming atmosphere around the tree. Until the moment suddenly get's ruined (No pun intended) by a ringing sound to your right.

When you look to see, you're greeted with the sight of Toriel attempting to call the phone she gave you a little while back. Quickly though, she notices that you're standing right next to her. With haste she puts the phone away and almost trips trying to walk up to you.

"You're hurt." She Bluntly concludes. You put a hand on your cheek, remembering when Napstablook hit you. "But you killed them right? That's what you humans do of course!" She takes a step back. "Don't worry we can find someone else for you to kill soon enough, I'll- The pie is almost ready-I'll go get it bye!" She turns around, sprints inside and trips a single time over the door frame.

"She's creepy, are you sure it's even safe to go in there?" You turn your head to look next to you, after Flowey. But no one's there. "Flowey?!" The lack of company startles you. You haven't been alone for more than a few seconds at a time and losing Flowey all of a sudden, you begin to think up the worst scenarios. Fearing the worst, you run inside the house as fast as your legs can carry you. The horror only get's worse as you hear a chewing sound from a closed door down the hallway. Part of you is dying to open the door and rescue your friend, but your rational sides stops you. For a moment you mentally debate whether to kick the door in and rescue Flowey or if brute force would only make things worse. Though, you remind yourself of the dummy you smashed to dust and rip out your notebook as quick as you can. With fear you grip the door handle, push down, throw the door open and lay your eyes on Flowey devouring a piece and pie on the wooden floor.

You drop your notebook and let out breath you didn't realise you were holding.

"Don't run off like that again, I almost had a heart attack."

"Sorry about that." Flowey blushes before bending downward and pushing a plate towards you. "Seriously you should try this stuff! I don't know what's in it but it tastes like heaven! Wait, what's with that face? Is something wrong?"


	5. Chapter 5 - Backstory

A/N Sorry for ending at a cliffhanger this time, also I'm posting version of this on Quotev. My username is the same, should anyone be curious. Anyway, on with a new chapter!

Flowey has throwing up since the second you told him what flavour the pie actually is. "That's messed up, even for her." Flowey said and coughed a few times. You plopped down in the bed next to Flowey. Suddenly you were reminded of something. You slip a hand in your pocket, pick out the piece of candy and unfold the wrapper. It's round and white with red stripes, turning it around reveals the pupil in what you now realise is an eyeball. Letting out a sigh, you drop it on the floor. With a "plop" lands in center of Flowey's puke, causing him barf up another stream.

"You okay. Down there?" A bit nervous you peek down at him.

Flowey let out a grunt "Kind of" he muttered

Closing your eyes, drop back on the sheets "Sorry to change the topic, but I meant ask you. Back in ruins you said that you knew Toriel, has she always this way? You paranoid and… Wierd-ish?"

Flowey turned to look up the ceiling before beginning. "No, actually. She used to be really nice and down to earth. She, actually she used to be queen of the underground. But that was before all the humans fell down here."

"The previous humans turned the underground into this?"

"No, not like that. They just set things into motion, you could say. A human fell down here, and was even accepted into the monster society. But then they died, suicide. After that everyone began talking, what if another came? What if they kept dying? We could use the souls to break the barrier that's keeping us all trapped. The queen, Toriel, was against it, but… Things happen"

"No, please continue. If we're gonna fix this, I need to know how it started."

"King Asgore didn't like her attitude. So he beat her half to death, and forced her to leave court immediately after. The underground has been under his dictatorship since." Looking down, Flowey turned his gaze to you. "But enough about monsters, I barely know you. You have a story too don't you? Who are you even?"

You're a bit taken back by Flowey's sudden interest in you, but glad that he cares nonetheless. "Not or king or queen, that much is for certain. Guess I'm the average loser, passing my days reading fanfiction and playing video games. I also draw and write a bit, if I don't do anything just slightly productive I end up feeling like a trashcan. But at least now I'll have plenty of work to make me feel needed."

Flowey begins to smile "Right about that, but what are gonna do from here?"

"Putting me in charge, eh?" You sit back up and take deep breath. "Now we're under the same roof as the traumatized queen of this place, we're obviously gonna make her feel better"

"And how do you intend to do intend to that? Just go up and hug her?"

"I was hoping you could tell me, you're the one that knows everything around here."

"If I knew the answer, I would have loved to tell you. But I don't. I do know though that her room is to your left down the hall, so if you have any bright ideas I got your back."

"No time to waste then."

Jump out of the bed, you reach for the door. When you reach the other side you notice how dusty the hallways actually are. You were in quite the hurry last time, so you didn't pay much attention to detail. It's not too bad though, the floor is pretty dusty, there's a few cracks in the planks Flowey utilizes to get up and down and there's a small mess on a shelf to the left. Otherwise, the place looks decent. Slowly you make your way up the hall. Reaching the door to Toriel's bedroom, you knock a few times and crack open the door. Empty, it seems.

Opening the door fully, you step inside fully

"Incase you hadn't seen, she's not here." Flowey comments

Slowly you make your way to her desk. "Her journal is."

Curious, Flowey pops down and back up closer to you. "Does it say anything about you?"

"Not what I can see, it's just weird jokes."

Leaving the desk you look around the rest of the room. It has what you would expect a bedroom to have. A pretty large bed, a shelf with a few drawers, a bookshelf and a few flowers. You walk closer to the bookshelf. None of the books are unusual or even remotely interesting though. It's the basic things, like encyclopedias, cooking books and simple things like that. Turning over, you look last thing of interest in the room.

"She doesn't collect corpses or something weird in these drawers, does she?"

"No, actually that's her underwear drawer."

Without even thinking, you feel yourself automatically open the drawer… It's empty.

As you close it, you mutter "I don't know what I expected."

Turning around to face Flowey you ask. "Do you think she's left?"

"Nah, she's probably just down in the living room. Directly down the hall, it's impossible miss."

The two of you continue, following Flowey's directions. Passing through the hallway, you peak around a corner finding Toriel in a large chair. She's shaking and pretending to not have noticed you while staring in a book.

"You're on your own from here, I'll be waiting 'till you're done." Flowey says and pushes up against the wall.

"You're not coming with me?"

"She's terrified of you. Seeing a talking flower on top of that is just going to give her a heart attack."

This confused you "With all the weird stuff I've seen down here, you're saying talking flowers aren't normal for monsters?"

"No, actually. I'm not even a monster." Flowey winks at you "Monsters don't have determination, silly."


	6. Chapter 6 - Surprises

"Hi, your name is Toriel right?"

Shaking, she turns her head to look at you slowly "Yes."

"First time we met was a bit hasty, sorry for showing suddenly."

She keeps staring at you without replying "You alright?"

"What? Yes! I'm okay." She exclaims, twitching.

"I'm sorry about what happened with the king."

Suddenly you notice how tall she actually is, as she stands up from her chair. Despite her intimidating height, she still seems scared far more scared of you "What do you mean?"

"The king? I heard he harmed you."

The horror in her expression only worsens as she begins to step backwards. "I've never told anyone." Her shaking worsens as she takes another step back "After banishing from New Home he framed me for attacking him. How do you know?"

You remember what Flowey told you, you don't want to mention him if when he's insisting on staying hidden.

"Was it the flower?"

You're caught.

"You've seen him?"

"The flower, it was the one with you back in the ruins."

Of course, that was back when she tried to kill you. Despite that she apparently already knew about him, you can't help but feel a bit guilty. Accepting defeat, Flowey reveals himself by popping up through a crack in the wooden floor. Just as he predicted, Toriel doesn't take his sudden appearance lightly. Walking the last few steps before she collided with the wall.

"We don't wanna hurt you." Flowey's attempt at calming her down had no effect, Toriel leapt for the kitchen before any of you could say more.

Flowey turns to you with a nervous look on his face "I'm sorry"

You let out a sigh "Don't be, this is not your fault." Taking the last steps between you and the kitchen, you peek around the corner of the door frame. Toriel is leaning, almost sitting with her back to the wall. She has a knife in her hands, and is heavily hyperventilation while staring at you. It doesn't take long for Flowey to take notice of the scene too.

"Put it down Toriel, you're better than this."

Having had enough of this you step out onto the kitchen floor and reach a hand out to her. Before you have the chance to say anything she jams the knife into your stomach. You lose count of how many times before long, but she just keeps going. Despite how much it hurts you manage to take the knife from her and throw it away. She falls to the floor crying and almost screaming.

"I don't understand, why aren't you dead." In the heat of the moment you almost forgot Flowey. Turning around you wink at him before dropping down on your knees and gently put your arms around Toriel. At first she resists, but after a few seconds she returns the hug and begins crying onto your shoulder.

Several minutes pass with this. The pain quickly passes and Toriel slowly calms down. You begin to think up what to say at this point. You haven't been quite successful talking her into calming down as of yet, so you hesitate a bit. Her journal comes to mind, more specifically the jokes in it. You get an idea. Running your hand down her back you release the hug, look at her without making eye contact and say "Titanic". It takes her a few seconds to muster up a "eh?" to which you respond "Sorry, that was the best 'ice breaker' I had." she looks at you for a few seconds "ice-" she begins to laugh. Success. In the meanwhile, you stand up and look around for Flowey in the meanwhile. He's still just staring at you from the doorframe. "You've just been stabbed like twenty times! Don't over strain your-" He stops, it confuses you for moment "Why aren't you bleeding?"

Looking down at your shirt, you find it in shreds. But as Flowey noticed, there's no blood. "Cool right? I hope my perseverance lives up to your expectations."


	7. Chapter 7 - End of the Ruins

A/N I took forever to get his chapter done, I've been doing other stuff for the holidays. Probably doesn't matter but… Yeah. Anyway, glad to be back, I guess my new year's resolution should be to start posting on time? Let's Hope the next chapter will be out before a week. Sorry about that again

"Your perseverance makes you immortal?"

The whole scene is still leaving Flowey in chock

"I guess you could say so, as long as I have the will to keep going. Just like your determination." You pause for a moment. "With all the humans that supposedly fell down here, I would have figured you had seen perseverance before?"

"Not like that, I haven't"

You turn to Toriel as you stand up again and reach a hand out to help her back up. "You okay there?"

Her eyes are still red from crying "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, I'm okay."

She takes your hand. Toriel also lays a hand on the wall to support her while getting back up "Can I at least fix your shirt? It's barely even in one piece at this point."

Quickly you look down to check, she's right. "If you really wanna apologise, do me favour and stop baking aids pie. Seriously that's so disgusting."

She looks slightly surprised "I thought it tasted good?"

"That's besides the point."

Hearing this cheers her up again "So it did taste good?"

"Ask the Flower."

"Please don't remind me about this."

"In any case." You take the word again "Just stop."

Admitting defeat, she let's out an "Okay…"

"So, Flowey. What do we do now?"

"If Toriel will allow it, we should pass through to the rest of the underground. There's far more monsters that need help."

Both of you turned to look at Toriel, without having to say anything.

"Don't let me hold you back, but can I give you a warning before you go?"

"Of course you can."

"Thank you." She said. "I thank you for taking time to understand me. But don't do the same to Asgore. When you eventually encounter him, just kill him. I have tried reasoning with him, too many others have, but nothing good ever comes out of it. Every minute his heart is still beating, our pain gets worse. Sparring him will only prolong the underground's suffering. Please, when you get the chance. Just end it."

The whole room went silent for a second, her statement sends thousands of thoughts through your head. Without a better response, you settle for a "Thank you for the warning."

Toriel probably notices your hesitance, as she doesn't quite seem satisfied. Nonetheless, both of you move on.

"The gateway to a the rest of the underground is downstairs. At the end of a long hallway, do you want me to go with you?"

"It's okay, it doesn't sound difficult find. Just focus on getting this kitchen cleaned up." Toriel looks at floor. Despite your wounds already having healed, her little attack left quite a mess of blood on the floor.

"And please, don't bake a pie from my blood."

A nervous giggle comes Toriel "Don't worry, I won't." She pauses "I understand, good luck out there."

Both you and Flowey start making your way out the kitchen and down the stairs, Toriel's words are still filling your thoughts. As you take the last step down, you decide to say something. "What do you think?"

"About Asgore?"

"Yeah… he doesn't sound too nice, but still. There gotta be something we can do."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."

"Why?"

"He's a sociopath. He doesn't feel empathy."

You hadn't considered that. Talking him into becoming a good guy will be quite difficult, if not impossible.

"Do you think there is a way?" Flowey asked you

"Honestly I don't know, as much as I would love to assure you." You begin to think while still walking down the hall. There isn't a real floor down here, so flowey can move around unhindered. You both keep moving towards the exit, ever so slowly getting closer.

"Wow, this sure is a long hall…"

"Yeah, it should be right around that corner though."

Rightfully, turning a corner reveals a large door. Hurring you walk up to it quickly "What's the rest of the underground likie?"

"Different… Big? In any case, the next part will be kind of cold."

"Cold?" You ask, trying to imagine what comes next.

"You'll see, Flowey responds. "See you on the other side." Popping down below the ground, he leaves with your own thoughts. You place a hand on the door and push open to reveal a forest. Curious to see such bellow ground, how does it grow without sunlight? You set foot in the snow and close the door behind you.


	8. Chapter 8 - Chills and Skeletons

"This looks pretty nice compared to the ruins."

having gotten used to red and black brick walls, the dull colors of a pine forest is a nice change of scenery.

"Don't worry, we're bound to run into trouble before long." Flowey answers sarcastically

Rolling your eyes, you answer "I hardly wait."

You continue down a path, leading directly away from the ruins. Looking around it's easy to forget you're deep below the surface. The trees stretch tall, and the dark ceiling could easily be mistaken for a cloudy night sky. Before reaching anything notably you hear a loud noise, a cracking sound or something heavy being dropped. It's coming from right behind you.

"You think someone is nearby?"

"Probably."

You barely get to walk another ten steps before you hear sound behind you again.

"Okay, clearly someone is following us."

Flowey looks at you questioning "And what exactly do you plan to do about?"

It takes you second think the situation through. Turning around you begin to yell considerably loud "When you're done playing passive/aggressive mysterious, you can come out and face us!" Though, to no response.

You're about to turn around when you feel a cold grip on your shoulder. Without thinking, you turn around and instinctively punch after whatever's behind you. Pretty accurately you hit him right in the face, or rather right in the skull, and finally get a look at the monster behind these shenanigans. Short, looks like skeleton and honestly kind of disappointing. He grips around his cranium and cracks it back in place.

"Why, good day to you too, pal."

"And what are you doing?"

"I work here."

"By scaring strangers?"

"No, by patrolling this area and staying on the lookout for humans."

This makes sense, and makes you kind of nervous at the same time. Pretty quickly, an awkward silence falls over the conversation. Luckily, Flowey is there to break it.

"We'll just be on our way."

The skeleton turns to look down at Flowey, he probably hasn't noticed Flowey before now. "Who's your friend?"

"Does it matter?" You ask.

"Honestly, not really. I was just curious." He lays a hand on his shoulder and begins to roll it around, giving out a few cracking noises.

"Well, I get paid minimum wage for this garbage job anyway, so eh, you wanna get lunch or something?"

"I don't know, where? This forest seems pretty empty…"

"It is, but if you continue up this path there's a small town at the end."

"Thanks, we will."

"One last thing, there's another skeleton around here. He's pretty tall and wearing a confusing mess of clothing. I doubt that he'll be any trouble though, he couldn't find his own spine with both hands…" he stops and takes a deep breath "What I'm trying to say is, you're most likely a bigger danger to him, than he is to you. So please, have some mercy, won't you?"

"That won't be a problem."

"Good, my name is Sans, nice to meet you."

He extends his arm as if to give you a handshake, you take his hand but quickly let go as you feel a shocking sensation from his touch.

"Ow!"

Sans holds up his hand to show the mechanism behind the trick "Gotcha."

"Should have seen that one coming." You mumble.

"You should." He turns around, before continuing "Guess I'll be seeing you around." With that, Sans walks off.

"Quite the character, huh."

Flowey perks up, as he finally gets a chance to say something "At least he's not something to worry about. Oh, and he forgot to tell you. The road from here to Snowdin is packed with the royal guard."

"Snowdin?"

"It's the town, and the tall guy he mentioned is Papyrus, his brother."

"Know anything else useful?"

"Papyrus has a sentry station up ahead. It's pretty close by, so we're bound to run into him if we continue."

"Any way we could sneak through?"

"I highly doubt it. The trees are too tight for you to fit in, and otherwise the only way through is in plain sight."

For a second you stop to think the situation over. Clearly you have to get to Snowdin somehow.

"You don't any better ideas?"

Flowey seemed to have something on his mind, but still acted a bit hesitant "There's always the river. Normally this would seem like a pretty bad idea. You know, freezing to death and stuff, but you seem to handle lethal situations pretty well…"

"... Are we really doing this?"

"If you jump in the river, you should be able to get all the way to snowdin without any trouble. No one bothers with the water, due to cold temperatures. On top of that you even have the stream flowing your way. Not bad, eh?"

"Fine! I'll freeze and drown all the way to Snowdin, just for you. If that's really the best solution you can come up with."

"Great, the river is this way. I'll be waiting for you in Snowdin town!

"I'm regretting this already…"


	9. Chapter 9 - Frozen to the bone

A/N Sorry for the delay, I really gotta get some sleep now...

"There it is."

Part of you had really hoped the lake would be more than a single turn away.

"Just jump in and follow the stream, I'll be waiting for you in Snowdin."

Hesitantly you step out and let yourself drop into the water. Your entire body shivers and falls numb from the cold. It's hard for you to sense most of your limbs but you still manage to find strength enough to keep moving.

"You okay?"

"Kind of." More of a whisper than anything else.

The cold has exhausted you, making it difficult to talk. Before you have the time to say more, Flowey leaves with a "Great, see you there!" Leaving you to freeze and float to your way to Snowdin by yourself. You try to let out a sigh before choking, due to your lungs being too cold to breathe in the first place. And so, you let go of the river's edge and give in to the stream, patiently flowing along.

The steam is slow, but it does the trick. You can't really breathe anyway, so you decide take a dive and go a little further down. Slowly as your eyes adjust, you get a closer look at the ground below the water. You had expected something like rock or frozen mud, but it almost looks sandy. The floor consists of a greyish sand like substance with a few pearly rocks in between. Gemstones maybe? Curious, you reach your hand out to touch it. Soft, definitely feels like sand. It does make you wonder. Despite the fact you are drowning at the bottom of a river trying to sneak past mercenaries, you feel quite peaceful. Something about the water and the mysterious ground below.

Just as you seem to forget all about the world around you, a loud splash kicks you back to reality. You flinch, but the real horror only grows worse, when you realise what just dropped in only a few meters behind you, is a human. Almost frantically you swim closer, clearly they're already dead. Both eyes are missing, a large rip goes directly into their skull, and judging by the feeling of their body, most if not all organs are missing. The only parts that are really left is the skeleton, around half of the skin and the clothes covering most of both. You'd give them hug, but it's little too late to do anything for them at this point. Though, a thought does cross your mind. As your shirt is in shreds, theirs still looks to be in one piece. It's not like they're gonna need it anymore… Still, part of you can't help but feel a bit guilty as you pull what's left of your own shirt, over your head and let it go in the stream.

Focussing your attention back on the dead human child in front of you, your hands gently pick the shirt off of their remains. "I'm sorry." You whisper to the best of your abilities. Looking at the sight of their hollow stomach makes you reconsider for second, but with your own shirt gone now, you don't have much of a choice. You put it on, and get it over with. It feels to be the right size, and the fabric is comfortable enough. The shirt itself is sky blue with two violet stripes running over the middle. Taking your current situation into account, it's certainly not a bad find. Lost in thought, it takes you moment before it hits you that you're still holding onto a corpse. You start to debate with yourself, what are you actually going to do with them now? It seems kind of disrespectful to just throw them back in the stream, but it's not like you can just stop up and bury them, right? Floating around with a dead body at the bottom of a river makes you feel really weird. So you'd rather get this mess over with, quickly. You swim up to the surface and briefly look around. Pine forest in every direction. It's hard to say where you are, or how close you are to anyone. Judging from the fact that there's no visible paths leading to or from here, you assume you're pretty alone. Just to be sure you grab a stick and throw it through the trees. If anyone's nearby, this should be enough to get their attention. With no response, you feel safe enough to come out briefly.

The cold almost gets worse as you get out of the water, the fact that you're drenched now too, doesn't help. Yet, it is nice being able to breathe for once. You let out a few coughs and try to get used to the air again. Suddenly, a noise erupts from the trees behind you. Quickly you turn your head to check if you've been caught. Flowey mentioned a royal guard, but… When you turn head, you're greeted with the sight of a colossal, white, armored dog, carrying the same stick you threw you just a moment ago. The dog now in front of you, opens its mouth and lets the stick drop to the ground with a small "thud".

Part of you starts panicking as you try and make up your mind whether it's being intimidating, or playful. Without any better ideas, you just go with the flow, pick up the stick and throw it again. Quickly the dog runs off and fetches the stick back. Without showing any sign of cruel intentions. It confuses you a bit, if this dog is hired to guard the The Underground and watch out for humans, it's doing a really bad job. None the less, you continue playing fetch with the presumably royal guard for a short while. Eventually, the dog drops down in front of you. Lying on its back, the dog is looking up at you, as if waiting to be pet. Carefully you reach your hand out and begin to stroke its fur. Your hand is still wet, but the dog doesn't seem to mind. Here, you just sit for a little while. Until suddenly. without warning, the dog jumps back on it's legs and runs off. While you are then left here to contemplate over what just happened. It takes you a good few seconds to regain sense of direction and realise you're still sitting in the middle of a forest with a corpse.

With the intention of getting out here before anyone else show up, you hastily move the dead human in front you and begin covering them, as good as you can in snow. The earth is too too hard to dig in, so you'll have to deal with what you have. Besides, keeping in mind that the closest town is named "Snowdin", it's probably not gonna melt away in any time soon. You feel kind of lonely out here by yourself, Flowey's been with you since you came, so it's a little weird not having him here to give you advice. As you end feeling satisfied with the with the "grave" and as your fingers slowly begin to get so cold that they would most likely break off, if they could that is. You decide to call your work done and turn back to the river. Shaking, and your whole body still numb and in pain at the same time, you hesitate for a few short seconds. But as you are about to drop back in, a loud noise from behind causes you to jolt back. Turning around, you see the last thing needed to send you straight into insanity. The white dog has returned, and along with it, is five other dogs all giving you the puppy eyes in perfect sync.


	10. Chapter 10 - Finally Here

You're tired, cold, and at this point you've lost count of how long you've been petting and playing with the dogs. All that matters is that they finally seem to be content enough to leave you alone, and not a moment too soon. Even though you weren't much for getting back in the river, you'd rather get this over with. Slowly you make your way back to the water. Closing your eyes you try to convince yourself to hurry up and get in before more dogs show up. You take a careful step back and set off to jump in, before you have the time to regret it. The first few seconds are the worst, after that, you slowly begin to adapt. It's bone chilling cold whether you're in or out of water, so deep down it doesn't really matter that much. The gentle stream starts pushing you forward again. It takes a while getting used to not being able to breathe again, and you start to wonder just how long this river is. At the bare minimum you must been floating a few hundred meters. It can't be that far again, can it? As the scenery around you begin to change, you start to wonder if you've missed Flowey. Grey walls with a wavy pattern matching the sand, start to form around as the dark pine trees begin to fade. Could you have missed Flowey as you dove below the water? If you passed him like that, he could easily have missed you. Conveniently though, you hear Flowey calling out to you a little further up.

"Helloooooooooo! You there?"

You pick up the pace in swim up to the shore in between the last few trees in the clearing.

"Oh good, I was so worried you wouldn't show up."

Grabbing hold of the rivers edge you push yourself up. "It's been quite the adventure."

"What happened to your shirt?"

"I'll tell you later, I need to get inside before my clothes freeze solid."

"Follow me" Flowey pops through the snow and slowly leads you into town. You walk as fast as you can, but the the your shivering body makes it hard for you to keep the pace. The town slowly starts to come into view. It doesn't look too bad, at least not considering what you've already seen so far. The first thing you see is a huge wolf doing something with chucks of ice behind a wire fence. Turning your attention more to your right, you catch sight of a few buildings. They're primarily built out of wood, presumably from the pine trees surrounding the area. You pick up the pace a little bit to catch up with Flowey. A single turn from here, and you arrive at relatively small bar, or perhaps a restaurant? It's made of dark stone, easily blending in with the tree around it. Above the dimly lit window, there's a sign saying "Grillby's" in purple.

"The sign says open, I'm going in."

"The ground is covered up in there, I can't come with you."

In frustration you pick up a flower pot beside the door and place it in front of Flowey

"In" you simply command.

"Are you serious?"

"Do you want me to dig you up?"

"Okay! Fine!"

You dig your hands through the ground around Flowey drop him in, the earth is hardened so you only just manage. With that out the way you grab the pot and push down the handle with your elbow. The flowerpot is quite heavy and you feel a bit awkward pushing through the door frame with it. "I feel humiliated..." Flowey whimpers

"So you finally made it!" The voice catches you off guard, it takes you a moment to realise you had forgotten all about Sans. "What happened to you? Took a dive in the river?"

"Yeah, I swam all the way. What about you?"

Suddenly Flowey decides to break into the conversation "You hauled me in here in a pot and you're not even gonna talk to me?"

Sans chuckles "I think your pet flower wants attention."

"Hey I'm not a pet!" Flowey hisses back.

"Stop it, you two." You break em up "I'm tired and I can still only barely feel most of my body. If you insist on arguing, take it outside. I don't have the energy for this."

As soon as you're done, Flowey perks up and yells "I love would go anywhere, BUT I'M STILL STUCK HERE!"

"Fine, let's try to get along then." Sans mutters as he drops back in a leather couch behind you. You too, take a seat and drag Flowey's pot a little closer to a table in between the three of you. A brief moment passes before Flowey strikes up a conversation again. "So what actually happened to you in the river?"

"You're not actually serious about swimming through here, are you?" Sans shoots you a questioning glare. Flowey inches a bit closer to you and whispers "Should we tell him?"

"You know I can hear you right?" Pretty unimpressed, Sans turns his head to look at Flowey.

"But really, All the previous humans have all been freezing out their own skin when they passed through Snowdin. If actually swam through in this climate, all the way here…" He pauses for a second. "I mean, I guess that's pretty cool."

A sigh and grunt escapes Flowey, along with a snarky comment. "You're so hilarious, you know that?"

"Thanks, I try my best." Sans leans back in the couch. "And what was that you were about to tell me? You're not keeping a skeleton in your closet, are you? Just the thought of that sends a chill down my spine."

"You him stop" Flowey bluntly commands.


	11. Chapter 11 - A Heated Situation

A/N Wow, I haven't updated in a long time. Sorry about that. The thing is that I got sick recently, and then I had other stuff to worry about and… I just kinda fell out of the rhythm of doing this. But! I'm back! And I don't care how long this'll take or how many times I'll be late, I want to finish this. So don't worry too much about it. Let's just hope I haven't gotten rusty at writing in the meanwhile.

A tall monster slowly begins to approach your table

Sans let's out a yawn and sinks deeper into the couch to the point that he's almost lying down. "Whatcha wanna get?"

It takes you to realise a problem "I have no money."

"Neither do I" Sans replies "but I'll do you a favor and just put it on my tab."

"Thanks, so what's on the menu?"

"Food."

"Nothing more specific than that?"

"Nope"

You roll your eyes "What are you having, then?"

"Same as you"

"Flowey, what do they serve?"

"You just asked Sans?"

"Yeah, but he won't answer."

"Can I take your order?" A tall monster seemingly made of purple fire is standing in front of your table impatiently. Judging from the dark flames he seems to be made of, you assume this is "Grillby".

"Know what? Just bring me anything edible, like fries or something. As long it isn't made of eyeballs or aids or anything weird like that."

He writes something down on a noteblock before looking back up at you "No toppings, then?"

"Ketchup, maybe?"

His gaze remains locked on yours "We have that."

"I'll have the same as the kid, though ketchup is probably out of my price range."

Grillby chuckles "Right about that, guess you'll have to settle for the usual then."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Sans say and somehow sinks even deeper into the sofa.

Without another word, Grillby turns and heads for the counter.

"Sans if you can't even afford ketchup, how do you plan to pay for my stuff?"

"Yeah." He takes a deep breath "I lied, you're on your own."

"That's truly selfless of you."

A bit annoyed, you begin to wonder how you're going pay. Or even just what to pay with. "Flowey, what's the currency down here?"

"We use bills and coins, just like on the surface. The specific currency is called Gold, or just G for short."

"How do you know what money humans use on the surface? Have you been there?"

"There's a huge waterfall leading from the surface to underground, a lot of garbage including books, movies, games and so on falls down here. Of course, we've also had a few humans come by before you."

The obvious answer makes you feel a bit silly."I guess that makes sense. Just out of curiousity, are monsters taught about humans in school?"

"A little, though most of it's self defense and how to act in case you spot a human."

You aren't really surprised, though still a bit disappointed "That's all?"

"Nothing about culture, if that's what you're asking for. All of it's pretty dark, like how to utilize human remains and stuff like that. That reminds me, I should probably tell you-"

A heavy "clunk" cuts Flowey off mid sentence. Grillby returns with a large plate of fries. And it appears to be without human or monster remains at that, what a luxury. The side of the plate is covered in what you can pretty confidently can say is mustard, presumably for Sans. Grillby then turns to you and hands you a small cup. "It's hard to come, be careful with it."

"What's the deal with ketchup down here? Is it really that rare?" You reach for a fry and dip it in the cup, it's surprisingly liquidy.

"Don't know where you're from, but it doesn't exactly grow on trees."

"I guess tomato plants are more of a bush, but still."

Grillby suddenly begins to laugh, the flames in his face flickering roughly "My bad." He says

"What?" Taking a bite of the fry, you realise it doesn't taste quite like ketchup is supposed to.

"That's what I meant to tell you." Flowey speaks up "In this area, ketchup is slang for human blood. That's what you're eating."

You place the cup down and push it back towards Grillby. "You just keep that"

Sans too begins chuckling.

"You knew this all along didn't you, Sans?"

"Yeah, I had hoped for a more intense reaction though."

"Man, you're seriously in need of a therapist."

Sans finally managed to pull himself up enough to sit up right."Whatever, you say."

Other than the fact that you just ate a fry covered in blood, the whole scene feels unusually nice. Laughter's been rare since you came down here, it's good to see the monsters cheerful for once. But of course, moments like this can't last forever. Flowey is the one to break it and almost yell at you "Duck beneath the table, quickly."

At this point you've learned that Flowey know these situations well, without questioning it you slide below and waited in an awkward and uncomfortable position. It's only a matter of seconds before the door is thrown open. You can't see see much from your current position, but you can only assume it's a member of the royal guard or someone equally as dangerous.

"Sans, what do you think we're getting getting paid for?"

"Not this."

"Then what are you doing? We're supposed to be hunting for a human!"

So it is a royal guard, the brother Sans mentioned perhaps?

"Sorry I'm busy at the moment."

"Busy? Sans! You're eating lunch with flower!

"I'll come play royal guard with you later, just get back to your cardboard station before someone else catches sight of a human before you."

"I can't guard the whole forest alone!"

"That's what the dogs are for."

"They're incompetent!"

"No they're not."

The mysterious figure starts stomping further into the bar, giving you a better look at him. (or at least at his legs) Judging by the literally bony figure, he must indeed be that brother of sans'.

"Fine, Sans. I'll prove it to you!"

You hear a loud noise and see a familiar white dog glide along the floor. "Prove your worth, go find me human pup!"

Your heart skips a beat as you hear this. A fearful feeling washes over you as the dog stands back up and begins walking towards you. Without any better idea you reach for a fry on the floor and throw it in the opposite direction, "please work" you whisper to yourself. Indeed the dog chases after the fry and leaves you be.

"WHAT?!" Sans' brother's voice gets even louder than it already was. "Sans, you're not supposed to feed the guard when he's supposed to find me a human!"

Sans simply remains quiet.

"Whatever! One day, I'll capture a human. With or without your help!" From what you can make out, the skeleton then stomps back to the door.

"Safe travels, Papyrus."

So that's his name, Papyrus. He doesn't seem to respond. With a grunt, he walks out the door and leaves the whole place in in silence. As always, Flowey's the one to kick life back in the conversation "That was little close, but I think you can come out now."

You start crawling back up, trying not to hit head on the table. "I think we better get going Flowey." You manage to muster out.

"Yeah, that'd probably good idea. What about the bill though?"

"Don't worry about that" Grillby breaks in "Sans will pay for you."

"No I won't"

"Yes you will. You probably even told them you would, didn't you?"

Sans does end paying, despite his protest. From here, it's not long before you finally dry up, you dare to go back outside. You make sure to thank Grillby, and apologize for the pot before leaving. Flowey certainly seems to appreciate back in the ground and he assures you that it won't be long before you reach somewhere with more inhabitable climate. Excitement begins to fill you as you start wondering what lies next.


	12. Chapter 12 - Flee

A/N, Wow, sorry it took almost month to update. I guess all these delays would be really poetic if it was patience I was writing about, but it's not. I'm just slow. Though I did end up rewriting this whole chapter halfway through. Most of the story haven't felt quite as harsh and brutal as I've wanted it to be. Though I think I'm satisfied with how ended up, you even got to explore some areas outside the game, woo. Anyway, sorry again, hope you all still enjoy.

Sounds of rushing water fills your ears as you keep walking. The cold fades and the walls close in around you, almost as if you're entering a cave. You recognize the ground below as the familiar greyish sand from the river. It wouldn't surprise you if the river continued into somewhere around here. "Where exactly are-"

Your question is cut off by Flowey poking a leaf into your leg, as if telling you to stop walking. Looking around the area you catch sight of Papyrus and an armor clad monster talking in the distance. Flowey disappears into a patch of tall grass after motioning for you to follow him.

"What are they doing?" You whisper

Flowey hushes you in response "I'm trying to listen."

Papyrus' yelling is loud enough for you to hear most of it clearly, the armored monster on the other hand is too quiet to understand.

"We would know, if the guards that might I add YOU assigned me, were capable of accomplishment!" Papyrus tone raises higher on the last part.

"Someone in reported a sighting of a human and I intend to find it, with or without your help." So that's what this is about.

Flowey pokes your leg to get your attention: "We need to hurry. If they know about you, they could launch a manhunt for you as we speak."

"Hurry where? If this is such a big deal is aren't they gonna tear the whole underground apart to find me?" Just as you finish the sentence you focus your attention back to the guards and realise they've stopped talking. Instead they're staring directly at the patch of grass you and Flowey are hiding in. In panic your eyes frantically start to dart around and scan the area for an escape, to your luck you notice a sharp almost ninety degree steep behind you. "Flowey I'll jump over the edge, meet me bellow."

You set off for the drop before Flowey has the time to respond. Swiftly, but quite quite noisy you leap over the ledge and start falling to the abyss below. The fall is far and feels faster with every second. As a darkness starts growing closer, it's not long before the last of your vision fades to blind. You start to question just how deep this hole reaches, as a heavy punch of earth hits you in the face and informs you the fall is over.

The dark is still just as thick, leaving you to wander aimlessly around, waiting for Flowey to arrive. You reach into your back pocket and flip out the phone you got from the ruins. Even after all the previous rivers, it still seems to work just fine. While only a dim light, it's still enough to see where you are. Aside from the patch of land you're standing on and a black, heavy, wavy patterned wall behind you, water is the only thing you can see in all directions. Are you in the middle of an ocean? That is, assuming the underground has oceans.

"Don't feel too safe yet, I think they saw you." The low screen light reveals Flowey's figure poking side ways out of a the only wall within sight.

"Where are we? And more importantly where do we go from here?"

Flowey looks around for a good moment, it takes him quite a while to before he manages to come up with a plan. "I don't think I've seen this cave before, my best guess is that we follow this wall and hope there's an opening we can get out of somewhere along. Next time, please consider twice before leaping into the abyss."

That's probably not a bad idea. Still you managed to escape, now just need to do it again.

You stare at the waters with a bit anxiety. Deep dark seas always has a creepy vibe from them. But this is no time for hesitance. With a careful jump, you get in and try not to focus on the darkness below. With only a phone's light to aid your search, it takes a while for you and Flowey to catch sight of a small opening. It's rocky and unstable, but still better than nothing. What's even better is that a dim indigo light is shining through the cliffs. Flowey pops out from a crack between rocks and turns to face you. "To be honest I was a bit worried we could actually be trapped in here."

"Yeah, this place is creepy. I'll be glad to get out of here."

Just as you grab onto a cliff and attempt to pull yourself out of the water, a quick grip tightens around your ankle. By instinct you start screaming, as whatever has grabbed ahold of you is yanking you down. As desperately as you try to what hold onto whatever you can grab, the strength overpowers you and drags you down with it. The last light leaves your vision as you disappear in the deep. Without much success, you still keep kicking and shaking frantically in a hope to shake off this creature.

Suddenly, an orange light faintly illuminates the water and gives you a little clarity to look at who's holding onto you. Now visibly in front of you is a miserable looking, fish-like creature with a glowing spear in one hand and your leg in the other. Quickly the monster releases hold of your angle and with a shaking grip, it grabs around the glowing spear with both hands. Before you have the time to react, the monster stabs the spear into your stomach. The haste of the blow forces all air out of your body, but to your advantage pushes you back towards the shore. Given the opportunity, you crawl out of water before the monster has the chance to get back at you.

"What happened?!" From the looks of it, Flowey's just as shocked as you are.

It's doesn't take you a moment to go straight for the cliff and start climbing "Someone's in the water, we need to run."

"Look out!" Flowey's sudden yell startles you a bit. Before you can turn around, a glowing spear comes flying and fastens into a rock only centimeters from your face. You almost fall over from the shock, but eyeing an opportunity, you grab the spear yourself and use it to pull yourself up the last part, letting you jump over to the other side. Flowey follows and pops out to the other side too. "We're not safe yet, Jump down over there and run that direction." Flowey uses his leaves to motion the directions to you.

"And hurry, you'll know when you're there just trust me. Go!" Both you and Flowey disappears, Flowey pops back in the ground, while set off and jump from the cliff you came out of.

As you land on the ground, you realise just how thick a mist is covering the area. You can only see a few meters in front of you. If it wasn't for the boulders to your right, you wouldn't even be able to tell which direction you you're supposed to run in. You shake off the thoughts and run as Flowey told you to. Hopefully he knows where the two of you are going. A bit of concern find it's way to you as you keep running without any goal in sight, "you'll know when you're there" isn't a very assuring way to navigate. But with no better options at hand, Flowey is your only hope. You can't tell just how far you've gotten, but it feels like a good bit of way, at least if you don't know where going. But soon enough, a small hill comes into sight, is this what Flowey was talking about? You climb up carefully, as you get further the mist starts to fade. By the time you reach the top, the atmosphere is clear enough to see far more clearly. In fact, you can see what must be kilometers away.

"Wow" You feel yourself whisper.

"Quite the sight, isn't it?" Flowey greets you.

"You've been here before?"

"I used to come here all the time when I was younger. The view is perfect, and no one else comes here since it's so close the royal castle."

"Are monsters afraid of that castle?"

"Oh there's real danger unless you're inside, but I think the sight of it reminds everyone what or rather who is the undergrounds real problem. You know, it gives off a bad vibe."

You quickly catch sight of the said colossal castle in the distance

"But it doesn't bother you?"

"A little bit… Hey, come closer. You haven't seen all of this place yet."

Flowey excitedly shows you around, it's far bigger than you first anticipated. Inside the hill is a valley with oddly colored trees and even a lake. It almost looks like fantasy landscape you you would see in a painting. When Flowey is finally done getting all nostalgic, you decide to settle down and rest night or day? Out of curiosity you flip out your phone and look at digital clock displaying "02:01". Settle down for the early morning then? Yeah, that'll have to be it.

Just as you're about to doze off. You hear a simple tune and feel a vibration from your pocket. Is that Toriel? She's the only one with your number, right? You pick up the call and put the phone to your ear, patiently awaiting a response. "Nice shirt human, purple looks good on you." The screeching voice can only be Sans brother. "You'd better grow eyes in the back of your head, human. We will find you." With that, he hangs up.

"Oh darn..."


	13. Chapter 13 - Feeling Hunted

The call stirs you up again, just as you were starting to feel safe. Should you tell Flowey? Eventually you'll have to, but right now the both of you are in need of sleep. Papyrus did say "We will find you" so even if he caught sight of you earlier, chances are he's lost track of you by now. It's not unlikely to think he saw you when you jumped out over the cliffside. If that's the case, he probably didn't get a very close look at you. An idea suddenly sparks up in you. If you were to get some different and more concealing clothes, you might be able to avoid recognition. You're reminded of that waterfall Flowey mentioned, the one with all the garbage flowing through. It seems pretty likely you could find a large hoodie or something to cover up with.

The sounds of your grumbling stomach interrupts your thoughts. After what happened at the bar, you still haven't eaten anything since you fell down here. While you don't have to worry about starving to death, it's still easier to concentrate on a full stomach. You reach out and take hold of the backpack you fell down with. After stabs, water, frost and several hard landings, none of it is still quite as edible as it used to be. The only thing that's still intact is a half liter bottle of water. But at this point, you feel you've had enough water for the time being. You drop your things back in the pack and flop down in the grass again.

"Trouble sleeping?" You turn to see Flowey lazily peaking out from the grass. His stem is folded along the ground, making him lie down as much as a flower is able to.

"Actually I'm just thinking about something.."

"I heard someone called you just a few moments ago"

"Yeah, I got a threatening call from Papyrus.

Flowey slowly raises himself up straight again. "You think we should get up?"

"Where should we go? As it is right now, this is the best place we can hide." You suddenly recall the idea you just went over in your mind. "About that waterfall with all the junk flowing through, can you show me where it is?"

"Are you looking for anything in particular?"

"Papyrus and the other guard might have seen me earlier. But if I found something more concealing to wear, maybe they won't recognize me."

"It's worth a shot." Flowey digs into the ground and pops up on the left side of you. "Come on it's this way."

The walk there is a little long, but with the beautiful scenery and relaxing atmosphere of your surroundings, you don't really mind. When you finally get there, you can't help but feel overwhelmed by just how huge it is. Garbage and flowing water fills you view as far as the eye can see.

"Is all this really from the surface?"

"Most of it is, monsters use this as a junkyard too though."

You both start searching through piles of household electronics, broken bikes and other unidentifiable junk. Flowey is the first to hit jackpot. After a few minutes, you hear him yell from behind. "Hey, look over here!"

Hurrying closer to him, you spot a hooded grey raincoat. Clearly it's a few sizes too big for you and it's missing most of the right sleeve. But it serves the purpose of concealing you just fine. "Do you really think this will be enough?"

"Most monsters have never even seen a human before. At least not in person. So the only thing have to go after is what little description the two guards can provide. Since that thing covers most of you, I'd say you're pretty safe. Even if they know what a human looks like, they might even just write you off as a weird monster that likes to look like a human."

The last part confuses you a bit "Is that a thing down here?"

"Yes, there's even a human fanclub."

The thought of a human fanclub makes you feel kind of weird, yet really important too. Pushing the thought aside, you put the coat on and pull the hood over your head.

"How does it look?" You spin around giving Flowey a better view of your new disguise.

"Convincing enough for most cases, as long as we don't run into any of the more experienced guards."

"Yeah, let's hope so." You quietly tell Flowey "But what are we going to do now?"

"If you want to, we could go see Napstablook. They live close by."

You've almost forgotten when you ran into Napstablook in the ruins. "Sure! It'll be nice seeing Blooky again. Even if the first time was rather messy."

"Yeah, I remember that." Flowey disappears back in the trash pile and comes back up behind you. "Can… You can jump out from this waterfall right? It's the fastest way down, but the water down there isn't very deep so I don't know if it might hurt."

Flowey doesn't have time to say more before you yell "Meet you there!" and carelessly leap off. The fall isn't even too long, maybe twelve meters or so.

A loud crash and a good bit of back pain signals your your landing in between a broken tv and a cardboard box. With a push you get yourself out of the garbage and start searching for Flowey. It doesn't take you long to detect a worried sounding voice calling out to you "Are you okay?"

At this point, you would think Flowey would have realised you're not very fragile. Even though you still decide to assure him. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

But when you turn around expecting to see Flowey, you find a small yellow dinosaur looking monster glaring at you instead "Darn, I hoped you had gotten hurt."

You feel a bit dumb when you realise Flowey is still nowhere to be seen. At the least this rude monster hasn't realised or at least not commented on your humanity, that's always a start. Without anymore regard for you or your well being, the monster then turns back to search through a pile of metallic junk.

You catch a faint whisper from behind, this time it actually comes from Flowey.

"This way." He motions to the only direction seemingly leading out from this garbage section of the waterfall. You follow Flowey through trash and knee high water until he suddenly stops you. Flowey peaks around one of the many hills of assorted garbage as you realise you can hear a quiet voice up ahead. "Oh, nevermind." Flowey speaks up a little louder "We were just looking for you!"

Getting a feeling who Flowey's calling after, you walk out and catch sight of a familiar black figure. Napstablook is talking to what appears to be a rouged up training dummy.

"Hey, remember us from ruins? How are you?"

Napstablook turns at the sound of your voice "Oh, thanks for asking. I'm doing absolutely horrible."

"Yeah I can see." You joke "You gotta be getting kind of lonely if you're starting to talk with the trash."

"I'm talking to my cousin, he's possessed this doll thing." The ghost face the said dummy "Say something before these two think I've lost my mind."

The dummy simply remains quiet. With a bit more of an aggressive approach, Napstablook raises their voice and yells "Say something! They're probably starting think I'm going insane!" You start worrying if this is actually the case, right until Napstablook spits a red substance right in the dummy's head. It startles you as the dummy falls over in the water and begins to scream. Seemingly not caring the least about this, Napstablook turns back to face you and Flowey again. "So how have you been?"

"Does that guy need help? He looks kind of… Dying?"

"Don't worry about, it's a ghost. Can't really die like that."

"Believe me, I know that feeling."

"Whatever, so you wanna hang out or something? My place is just up ahead"

"Sure thing, lead the way."


	14. Chapter 14 - A Sense of Hope

Napstablook guides you through a small set of turns before you arrive at his place. As you walk past a little lake, you decide to start up a conversation "How have you been?"

"Simply horrible, thanks for asking." Napstablook answers without stopping or looking back.

"Has something been bothering you? You ask.

"I had a break in yesterday, I literally live next to a junkyard and my weird cousin whines all day and night. Other than that, nothing interesting happens around here."

"You mean the dummy we just met"

"No, another one. He recently moved back in after he realised the underground hates him as much as we hate everyone else."

"I guess this place can be rather harsh."

You stop in front of two identical houses, the only seeming difference being the paint that's mostly peeled off anyway. Napstablook floats over to the left one, it's brown beneath the red paint and has a single shattered window in the top. The only part of it that seems whole is the heavy iron door that blocks your entrance off. Napstablooks spins around and looks at you and Flowey. "Sorry, I forgot I lost the keys. I always phase through, so I've never used them before." His expression doesn't change from the dead look on his face he's had this entire time. "Guess you'll just have to bother Happstablook instead"

Napstablook floats closer to the other house and stops in front of the door. "He's feeling pretty down right now, so don't be too hard on him." Before calling out, Napstablook clears their throat. "Open the door you dysfunctional calculator! We have guests and I'm too lazy to entertain them myself!"

A good moment passes before after the Napstablook's rather harsh introduction. The door scrambles open to reveal a metallic construction holding nervously onto the doorframe.

"Is that your cousin?"

"Yes" Napstablook answers "One of his friends at his human loser club made a robotic body for him."

"I'm not in the mood for this, Blooky." His voice is robotic, having a pretty classical autotune sound to it.

"You're part of the human fanclub?" You daringly ask the robot.

"If you're here to bully me about it I'm not gonna listen, if you're here to attack me due the same reason, please take a moment to consider the fact that stainless steel is probably stronger than whatever you're made of." He sounds rather threatening. Judging by everything you've seen so far, this behavior can easily seem justifiable.

"I'm sorry if monsters are harassing you, I really don't wanna harm anyone." You try to sound reassuring, but at the same time you can't help commenting on that last part "For your information, though. I actually am made of something stronger than metal. No offense of course."

"Is that a challenge?" He opens the door fully revealing more of himself as well as the interior of the house itself. "The guard will not care if you die, neither will I. If you wanna get hurt, I'm only waiting for you."

"Wow I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that!" You take a few steps back before catching sight of something familiar. You're just barely able recognize it from here, but you spot something familiar on a wall poster inside of the house. The poster itself is dark like a night sky, with a pink haired anime girl hiding outside a building. The sight reminds you awfully much of a game that one of your really weird friends convinced you to play. "Lin?" you say out loud to yourself. "Is that seriusly Lin from Nude System?" This time a little louder, you ask the robot directly.

He stops up as if shocked by your question. "How did you know?" He starts questioning you "Have you played it? Where did you get it? Isn't Alphys the only other person down here with that game?" Out of nowhere he begins to bombard you with questions. Before he continues asking away, you break in and start answering one by one."Yes I played it, long story okay? I have no idea who Alphys is and I downloaded it free off the internet, probably illegally, like most other humans would." Your heart skips a beat as you realise you just indirectly told him you're a human. A bit nervously, you push the hood off your head and try to tell him as as casually as possible. "Oh yeah, I'm a human, I forgot to tell you that."

Patiently, you all remain silent as the robot rolls up close to you.

Of all the things he could say or do in a situation like this, he grabs around you with two of his four arms and greet your newly revealed identity with the scream of a fangirl. Still holding onto you, he starts talking way too fast for you to understand the majority of it. A mixture of shock from the overwhelming situation and your lack of experience with admirers, leaves you speechless. Flowey ends up being the one that stops your biggest fan mid sentence with a sarcastic comment. "I'm kind of present too, just in case you wanna acknowledge my existence."

"Does humans have talking plants?" Your robotic admirer asks, sounding rather dumb.

"Flowey's not from the surface, I think. He's just an abnormal talking flower. I think he's lonely too, so don't leave him out this. Oh, and please place me back on the ground."

"Sorry" he replies and carefully set you back down. "But what is a human and a talking flower even doing in the underground?"

A lot of things have happened in what little time you've been down here, at this point you almost forgot why you came all this way in the first place. Now though, you're more focused on what you and Flowey talked about when you first met.

"Both of us are kind of hoping to save the underground. You know, a lot of bad stuff seems to happen. I don't think that plan is going too well though."

Flowey takes over story where you left off "Not really, especially not now when the royal guard is starting to catch up with us. So for now, we're trying to survive. That actually, is going pretty well though."

The robot listens contently, seemingly taking great interest in everything you say. "We actually have a prophecy of someone from the surface freeing us from the underground, human. Just try to imagine if that's actually you." His statement builds up a feeling hope in you. "Well" He continues "it certainly wasn't any of the seven humans that came before you." And just like that, your hopeful feeling fades again.

"Well you know what they say." Flowey tries making the whole thing sound a little less threatening "Seven is a lucky number, oh right the seventh is dead… Still eight is probably a good number too."

"Thanks Flowey, that's motivating." You joke.

The robot brings your attention back to him by clapping his hands together, two and two. "Well, with Asgore in charge, nothing's gonna change around here. If you're serious about saving anything, what we need is a new leader."

An idea sparks up in your mind as hear this. You're remind yourself of Toriel. If she really used to rule as a queen, she could probably do it again. Maybe with her help, you could convince enough monsters to start a rebellion and change the underground for the better. "I think I know where we can find one." You tell the robot and Flowey.

"Fantastic." The robot comments. "Come inside, both of you. I've been waiting for an opportunity like this my whole life."


	15. Chapter 15 - Settling in

The interior is a lot more girly than you would've expected. Nonetheless it's still a lot more welcoming than the outside.

"Sit down." The robot insists and almost knocks you over with a chair.

You do as tells you and drop down in the chair "Do you have a name?"

"Mettaton" he simply responds, just before darting over to a shelf.

Flowey is hardly pressed to find a crack in the floor planks, seeing how well kept the place is. At least well kept for the undergrounds standards. Eventually he pushes off a rug, as he pops up from a small hole hidden beneath.

When Mettaton comes back, he's carrying a bunch of small containers and brushes.

"Is that make up?" You ask him, starting to feel confused.

"No, or yes actually… Just trust me okay?" He rolls up closer to you and starts to load up a brush with something.

Still without a clue, you breath out and lean back in the chair "I'll have faith in you then."

"Thanks dear." Mettaton replies "How long exactly have you been down here?"

"Half a day?, maybe more?" Looking in Flowey's direction, he merely shrugs telling you he's just as lost as you are. "I came down this morning, or maybe noon or something like that. I don't know what time it is now, if you know you can do the math yourself."

Just as you manage to finish the sentence, the door is thrown open as two armor clad monsters burst in. "Has anyone in here spotted a human passing through the area?" The left one almost yells. Not wanting to act suspicious or give anything anything away, you remain seated feeling nearly frozen in place.

"Wish I did." Mettaton calmly replies "Guess someone else beat me to it this time."

"Who's your friend?"

"We're both from the human fanclub, I'm practicing make up, it looks almost like the real thing doesn't it?" Mettaton spins your chair so you face towards the invading monsters.

"Disgusting." The left one states while the other one seems rather intrigued

"Hey, that's seriously well done! Are you professional?"

the guard bows down and touches your cheek carefully. "What did you use?"

"It's a secret" Mettaton whispers

"Focus, you fool." The first guard slaps the other one over his helmet. "We're still on duty, if you wanna go be loser, do afterwards." Before going back out the door, he scans over the house one last time. "Come on, we're done here."

Neither guards say more before leaving without closing the door.

Mettaton stretches out one of his four arms and close it it without leaving you out of his sight. "That went a lot better than I dared hope for." Flowey voice sounds as he breaks silence.

"Sounds about right." Still a bit shocked, you agree. "Mettaton, was that your plan all along?"

"No, that was just me improvising. Actually I'm trying to make you look like a monster so you could blend in easier. Good thing it played out like it did though, eh?"

Mettaton keep working on your face while the two of you talk, Flowey too joins in and help explaining about the whole adventure you've been through.

When Mettaton finally feels satisfied, he hands you a mirror so you can see the outcome for yourself. It's surprisingly good! Almost like the type of stuff you would see in youtube tutorials. First thing you notice is your entire face and neck is green, or blue? Cyan-ish? Whatever. A few black spots makes your face appear more angular than it normally would. The corners of your face is marked with a few dark shaded lines, giving a scaly and rough texture. Your lips and the area under your eyes are a pale shade of indigo. As you look now, you can hardly even recognize yourself.

"What do you think?" Mettaton asks out excitedly.

Automatically you find yourself reaching up to touch your own face in disbelief. "It looks amazing, obviously."

You spend a few extra moments staring into your own expression, taking in the fact that this actually is your face.

"When you're done staring a hole in that mirror" The cartoony voice from Flowey directs your attention back to him "What's gonna be our next move?"

"Good question. Mettaton, you suggested we should get a new candidate to run for leader in the underground, right?"

"If you want the monsters support, you'll need someone they're willing to root for. That's the best advice I can give you."  
"I happen to have a friend called Toriel, I believe she should do the trick."

"The former queen?" Mettaton looks surprised, as much as his robotic appearance and lack of face allows him to. "Hey that's right, you mentioned her in that little tale of yours. I mean if you can get her out of the Ruins, be my guest. But she's been fixated on staying there for as long as I can remember."

"I'll try" You say and stand up from the Mettaton's chair. Flipping out the phone Toriel gave you back in the Ruins, you open the contacts and call the only number in there. Hers. A few beeps pass before she eventually picks up and responds. "Human? Is that you?"

"No, i'm phone seller trying to sell you a premium membership to CornHub."

She giggles a bit "I'm taking that as a yes."

"Yeah, it's the human. How have you been?"

"Okay, I guess. But more importantly, do you know Asgore's men are searching for you?"

"Yes, I'm well aware by now. I actually called because I have a question.

"Oh?"

"Can I convince you to come over here and run as a candidate for new ruler of the underground?"

"I… That's quite suddenly."

"I know, we're kind of trying to get the support from civil monsters to help overthrow the throne."

"We? Does that mean you and the Flower."

"Long story okay, but we need you, in fact the whole underground needs you."

"Fine, but… I don't even know where you are, not to mention that Snowdin is packed full of Royal guard that would kill me if I even sat foot outside the Ruins."

"What if I can send someone over to escort you?"

"Okay, I guess. I'll… I'll be waiting."

"Great, I'll try to figure out something in the meanwhile. Stay safe until then."

Letting out a sigh, you hang up and turn around and look at your two friends that patiently await you to say anything. "We need someone to escort Toriel all the way here, any volunteers?"

A moment of silence passes before Flowey speaks up. "This is gonna sound a bit strange, but you could probably convince Sans to do it." Flowey lowers his voice a bit before continuing "I think he has a crush on Toriel."

"Are you serious?" Mettaton asks "They'd make the weirdest couple of the entire underground. I doubt she dumped asgore for a four feet tall sack of bones"

"I've only seen them talk, okay? But I don't know, just… do we have any better options?"

You look at the phone for a few seconds before an idea strikes you. "I don't have Sans' number, but I think I know how to get it. Keep quiet for a few seconds, both of you."

Opening the previously called numbers you pick out the last number that called you. Barely a single beep passes before Papyrus picks up the phone.

"Hi, am I speaking with Papyrus of the royal guard?"

"Of course you are! Why?"

"I need to speak with your brother, Sans, is he home?"

"No, I think he's at one of his illegal hotdog stands the hotlands"

"Mind if I have his number then?"

"00541324"

"Just a second, sir, let me write that down."

You hurry over to you bag and pick out the still ruined notebook you came down here with. Also picking up a pencil you scramble down the first few numbers in the corner of a page.

"005-what?"

"4-1-3-2-4"

"4-1-3-2-4, was it?

"Yes, who is this even?

"It's the human, you're a real nice guy, thanks for the number. Be seeing you, pal"

"WHAT DI-" Before he has the chance to say more, you hang up. The second you lower the phone, Flowey starts scolding your for your little stunt. "My heart skipped a beat when you asked if it was Papyrus, seriously that was kind of dangerous."

"Oh, you're flower, do you even have a heart?" Mettaton scoffs at Flowey.

"You're an overgrown calculator, it's not like you're one to speak, either!" Flowey replies

"Whatever guys" You break their little argument, "I got Sans number now. Now, let's get this over with."


	16. Chapter 16 - A Plan

A/N Late as usual, got an excuse this time though. I've been having my finals in school these last few days, meaning I haven't been home before 19:00 ish. . Anyway, enough about my boring existence, enjoy~

Just as Flowey told you, Sans actually agreed to help Toriel. In fact, it hardly even took any convincing. With that out the way, you go back into your contacts and pick out Toriel's number.

"Hi again, I got someone to help us out. There should be skeleto-"

"I know, we're outside your place right now."

"What? You're already here?" You quickly dash over to check on the window, true enough Sans and Toriel are patiently waiting outside. "But it's barely been a few minutes since I called Sans?" Taking into account that it took you and Flowey several hours to get from the Ruins to here, the idea of Sans already showing up in mere minutes just seems abstract. "No matter, I'll go out and meet you."

You hang up and look back over your shoulder at Mettaton and Flowey "They're already here."

"That didn't take long" Mettaton comments and rolls past you to open the door.

A few moments of silence passes before you hear the distinct shaking voice of Toriel "Is this where the human is staying?"

Hearing that, you walk closer to look out the door for yourself. "Hi again, glad you could make it" You greet her

"Been making friends all over haven't you?" Sans smirks at before turning around and slowly walking off. "I'm assuming you already have a lot things to talk about, so I'll leave you be. Besides, I have other important things to attend to. That is to say I'm gonna go to Grillby's and refrain from doing anything even remotely productive for the next six hours. Be seeing you."

All of you remain silent as Sans turns a corner and disappears from your view.

"He's quite a character, huh." you say aloud to break the silence

"He's nice enough" Toriel adds

"Anyway, none of us really are on good terms with the guards, we better take this inside."

Mettaton backs up a bit as you open the door up wider.

"Sorry if the place is a bit messy." The robotic voice of Mettaton mutters "I didn't expect to host a human and an ex-ruler so suddenly"

She quickly looks over the interior before reassuring him it's no problem "Oh, don't worry about it." For a second she falls quiet again as she turns her view over to you "Human? I can hardly recognize you."

A moment of confusion fills you before you remember the makeup Mettaton did on you.

"It looks convincing right? At least I hope does. It's an attempt to make me blend in easier, but enough of that. Now that you're here, we can finally get around to do something."

Toriel shifts into an uncomfortable expression at your mention of action. "I remember what you said, you wanted me to stand up as a new ruler, but I doubt Asgore is even gonna allow me such an opportunity."

"That's all the more reason we need you." You try to encourage, despite her fearful attitude. "We can only get support from the civil monsters if we have someone they're willing to root for. That's why we need your help"

"And why would anyone root for me?"

Mettaton joins into the conversation "Because you're the only thing that used keep our government together. Before you Asgore took the full dictatorship, the underground was perfect. Nothing went wrong before you left."

Yet still, Toriel doesn't ease up. "What are we going to do about the guard? They're gonna find out eventually."

"I can protect you." You step forward and offer.

"I doubt one impenetrable meat shield is gonna stand a chance against a whole army." Flowey comments "But, I happen to know that the head of the Royal is miserably unhappy with the life Asgore has caused her. So maybe, with a little bit of convincing, she would be willing to join our cause."

Mettaton sighs in a mocking manner. "That's very interesting, flower, but how exactly are we gonna make a commanding royal warrior listen to anything we have to say?"

With no better ideas, you decide to agree with Flowey's suggestion "Even if I can't take on a whole army, I think I can hold one monster off long enough to make her listen."

"Is it really smart to take chances?" Metatton too starts to sound worried "She is tough and I don't want you to risk your life for a plan that might not even work."

Obviously there's no reason to be concerned for your well being, but his worry is perfectly understandable as you don't recall telling him about your perseverance. "Meatton, I think it's about time I told you that I'm immortal."

Everyone falls silent for a moment "Like seriously immortal, I can't even bleed. So just don't worry about." The same awkward silence continues for a few seconds. "Well, if no one else has anything to say, how about we get started? Mettaton and Toriel, you better stay here. Since you two are gonna have some spare time on your hands, try to make Toriel look a bit presentable. No offence, but you look like you just came out of ruin."

"I did, I live in one." Toriel adds

"You know what I mean." With that out the way, your turn back to to Flowey. "Flowey, you'll come with me. In the meanwhile, we're gonna find the leader of the royal guard together."

"Roger that." He replies.

You slowly make your way to the door before turning around one last time "Good luck, I'll be back soon, I hope. If anything comes up, just give me a call, Toriel has my number."

Mettaton hastily rolls up to you before you have a chance to open the door. "Before you go. Take these, your eyes are looking a little too "human" for a fish monster." He hands you a simple black pair of sunglasses. "And good luck to you too."

"Thanks." You say as you slide them on.

Having said your goodbyes, you step out to find Flowey already waiting for you. "Any idea how we're gonna track her down?" You ask him

"Since word's already out that there's a human on the loose, she's probably still out there searching. Though, that could be anywhere."

Closing the door behind you, slowly begin to walk away from the house. "Would it be too suspicious to ask around for her?"

"I don't think so, since she's a fish monster you could probably just say you're relatives or something."

The mention of a fish monster reminds you of something "Does she have red hair and an eyepatch?"

"Yes, and she uses orange spears just like the ones that were thrown after us, back when we were ambushed by the water. Her name is Undyne." Flowey explains "Typically she's wearing a large set of metal armor, you probably saw it too, she was wearing it back when we saw her talking with Papyrus."

"If that was her, does that mean she took off the armor and jumped over the cliff to follow us?"

"Probably." He replies.

While you aren't exactly endangered physically, the thought of her being willing to go that far still makes you a bit nervous. Sending a chill down your spine and making you consider just who you're dealing with.


	17. Chapter 17 - Undyne

Flowey leads you through a dimly lit maze of crystals. After asking around, you tracked Undyne to barricade towards the outskirts of the Waterfall. With the human sightings, the guard felt it necessary to block off all roads leading in and out of the waterfall.

Flowey pops out from between a few glowing shards, signaling which path supposed to take next. "What are you gonna do when we get there? He told us there's no access for monsters either."

"We don't have to get through, we just have to speak with Undyne. Finding her is all we have to worry about for now." You try your best to remain calm, part of you though still worries over what you're actually gonna say to her. There's a chance she's not gonna listen, and then what? You replay your own words in your thoughts and remind yourself that you'll just have to wait and see.

As you keep following Flowey, you reach a hand in your coat's pocket and pull out a bottle you got at the junk sale just a few minutes ago. Flowey mentioned a turquoise that might know about Undyne whereabouts. Rightfully, he did, but he refused to help unless you bought something first, and that's how you ended up with a blue plastic bottle labelled "Sea Tea". Curiosity gets the better of you as you screw the lid off and take a sip. "No wonder he's having a hard time selling this stuff, it tastes like seasoned swamp water."

"That's probably because it is seasoned swamp water." Flowey replies

The taste is weird and reminds you of a highly unproductive day at school. "Have you ever tried making cup ramen with mint tea instead of that flavored powder you're supposed to use?"

"No?" He responds meekly

"Don't try it, it's horrible. Anyway that's pretty much what this tastes like."

Despite the weird taste, you still find yourself drinking more. As strange as it seems, the taste is unpleasant and addictive at the same time.

You turn another corner and come to clearing. The dark cave walls open up to reveal Two guards blocking the path.

"Is Undyne here?" You ask.

"No, you can't talk to her." The left guard bluntly states.

"It might be a bit risky, but I have a plan if you can get past these two." Flowey says clearly loud enough for the guards to hear. Both the guards keep staring intimidatingly at you as you wait for him to to elaborate.

"There's a bridge over a really long drop directly up ahead, I think you know what to do."

Feeling hopeful you pick the sea tea out of your pocket and unscrew the lid. In one quick motion you swiftly empty the last tea in a stripe that hits both guards directly in the face. The second the bottle leaves your hand, you leap off and pray the surprise keeps them distracted long enough for you to slip through. As you push past them both, you start sprinting off in the only direction you can see. It doesn't take long for you to hear the metallic clanking of armor catching up behind you. You keep going through a few turns, struggling to keep a high speed through the water. Just as a dark rocky ledge and a plain wooden bridge comes into your view, you feel a cold claw like hand grip around your arm. "You're not going anywhere!"

A jolt of panic shoots through you, you had hoped you wouldn't have to face this situation. With no better option, you struggle to break free, though without success. To your luck, you catch sight of a green vine slowly creeping up around the guards leg. The guard notices too, but refuses to let go of you. The vine tightens around him and knocks him over. Taking the opportunity you throw a kick at his helmet causing him to finally release his grip.

You consider jumping out from the bridge for just a brief moment, but as you still need to find Undyne, it wouldn't do you any good. An idea strikes you as the guard is still struggling to free himself of Flowey's grip. You grab a hold of a large waraxe the guard dropped beside him and struggle to carry it over to the other side of the bridge. Seeing how rotten the wood is, probably due to the humid air of the waterfall, a few strikes will hopefully manage to make it impassable. The axe is heavy, but not so much you can't lift it over your head. Luckily with a single strike, you manage to cut right through a good chunk of planks. With another swing, you throw the axe and manage to ruin the entire second section of of the bridge. The jump required to pass over is long, definitely not possible considering the armor the guard is wearing.

"It's nothing personal, guard." You yell before turning around to continue the other direction. It only lasts a few mere seconds before Flowey pops up and meets with you. "That was pretty close."

"You never told me you could do that vine stuff? Well, at least we made it, now we just need to find Undyne." You reply

"Unless she finds us first." Flowey pokes a leaf upwards.

Turning your head back, you look up a mountain like passage. On top you quickly spot Undyne looking back down at you.

A feeling of intimidation falls over you as she leaps out and lands down right beside you. "What are you doing here, the road to the hotlands is closed?" Thankfully, she doesn't seem to recognize you.

"I know, it was really troublesome to get to here in fact. I came looking for you."

She seems nervous "Why? You shouldn't even be here."

"I want to help. Me, this flowey and two others are starting a rebellion towards Asgore."

"You seriously believe you can change anything?" Her voice sounds like mixture between fear and shock.

"We're never gonna know if we don't try."

"You're just a child."

"Not just a child, I'm the human, remember me?" You push the hood off your head and take off the sunglasses, allowing her a better look at you. "I'm not your enemy, I want to help the underground."

"I get it, you want to be the underground's hero. But you can't. Do you know what happens to people that step up to Asgore?" Her voice raises on the last part, so much it even seems to scare herself. "Do you think enjoy causing suffering for a living? Asgore took me from my parents when I was young. I was to be trained and become his new warmachine, but I didn't want to. He took my left eye and he told me that if I ever said I would be anything else than a soldier, he would take the other one too."

You all fall quiet for a long moment, Flowey's the first to break the silence. "That's a prime example of why the underground needs us. Unless someone does something, nothing is going to change. If you would just have faith in us."

"Why should I believe you?" She almost snares

"Because you don't have too. Either you trust us, or you attack me just like Asgore would have wanted. In both cases I'm fine with it." You grab ahold of the glowing spear in her hand, and point it directly into your forehead. "But please, if you can't kill me, you'll have to trust I can defeat Asgore."

She falls silent and just stands there, maybe trying to make up her mind or she's too nervous to think at all. The silence only grows more awkward as she refuses to even move. Seemingly out of patience, Flowey speaks up. "We're waiting, Undyne, what will it be?"


	18. Chapter 18 - Tough Choices

**A/N Sorry again for being so late, I've had my finals over the last two weeks, so yeah. Though now I'm now vacation and hopefully I can starting updating on time, woo!**

 **Anyway, In a previous chapter (The one where Toriel attacks the reader, specifically.) I think I messed up with how the perseverance power works. The part where she staps you, I mentioned the knife couldn't penetrate your skin. Though, in the next chapter, I mentioned there was a mess of blood on the floor. I don't know what thought when I wrote that part, but since your power is pretty relevant, I'll just set it straight how it works for the rest of the story. Your vital organs, bones and skin is impossible to damage, due to that you can't really be harmed. If you are stabbed/hit, your body will bend as far as it can without taking damage. The rest of how exactly perseverance works will be explained through the story. As for the part where you made a bloody mess without having been successfully stabbed, I'll just write that off as you accidentally having knocked over a can of some of Toriel's precious aids infected blood. Sorry for the confusion.**

 **The air remains silent, you slowly start to question if she's even going to respond at all. Though eventually, she decides to speak up. "I fear Asgore more than I fear you."**

 **Without another word, she japs her spear straight into your forehead. Unsurprisingly it does go through, but rather just sends you flying back. While not technically harming you, the solid rock ground does provide for a painful landing. You attempt to climb up and regain your balance again. Though you never get the chance as Undyne slowly walks up to you and sends a kick in your face, making you drop down on your back again. Dominantly she places a foot on your chest and lifts her spear over her head as high as her arms can reach. She then proceeds to stab the whole thing right into your chest. But the second the spear japs into your ribcage, it breaks. The loud cracking noise of the spear snapping in two startles you both.**

 **"How?!" She screams agitatedly and drops the remaining end.**

 **You feel a bit of confidence return to you as you see Undyne is finally starting to struggle . Quickly you push yourself off the ground and regain your footing again. "You're gonna have to try a little harder than that." You confidently say as you look her right in the eyes, or eye rather.**

 **"I love a challenge." She grunts.**

 **With an orange flash, a new spear appears in her right hand. She launches the spear towards your left leg, though you dodge it by simply taking a step to the right. As it flies by, you turn to look as it dives into the sand right next you. The second you look back though, Undyne is right in front of you. She's hanging mid air, in a leap, with her right fist quickly nearing your face. Before have the time to react, her punch sends you back with surprising force. Falling to ground you endure a few rolls before getting a chance to stand back up. By this time Undyne's already walked up to you, and greets you with upwards punch in your jaw. You're knocked right back down. It's doesn't take her second to conjure up another spear and plant it in the shoulder fabric of your jacket. She quickly proceeds to fasten the other corners in the same way, making you stuck to the ground. As you spot an orange flash from the corner of your eye, she points the tip of her magical weapon right in between you eyes.**

 **"You're tough kid, but I've done this before." She slides the edge down your body until she reaches your stomach. Just as she did before, she then grabs around the spear with both hands and jab the whole thing into you. With seemingly no success though. She continuously staps a few more times until again, the whole spear breaks in two.**

 **"I don't understand, this doesn't make sense! Why aren't you getting hurt?"**

 **You cough a few times "To be fair you did at least manage to knock the breath out of me."**

 **She throws the broken handle to the side and sits down on top of you. For a few seconds she stares at you before clenching her fists and bashing away at you face. Punch by punch she hits you, her breathing raises while you lie patiently and await her to tire herself out. Suddenly she stops. You shift eyes over to find her staring at her own hand. The gauntlet on her hand is completely disfigured, most of the metal is bent in places that looks horribly uncomfortable for her.**

 **"Is this what you want?" You ask her. "You call yourself a soldier but a soldier wouldn't fight an opponent that refuses to fight back. Assaulting anyone that wouldn't do the same to you makes you a murder at best."**

 **Undyne just stares at you, from her expression it looks like she's almost starting to get scared.**

 **"It's not too late to take charge of your own life, I can help if you'll just trust me."**

 **"I don't want to hear it!" She smashes her already disfigured fist into the ground. dizzily she then tries to push herself back up. She's hyperventilating, it almost sounds like she's choking on her own breath. Without paying anymore attention to you, she then starts to run.**

 **The very moment she leaves your sight Flowey digs up beside you and starts pulling out the spears holding you in place. "We must hurry, we have to go after her."**

 **"Got it." You answer**

 **As a vine picks the last spear out of the corner of your jacket, stand up and start chasing off in her direction. If she's wearing that metal armor, she probably can't outrun you, then again she has already proven herself to be surprisingly strong. You turn a corner and notice a large LED sign displaying the words "Welcome to Hotland". Continuing to run further down, you take notice to the humid hair of the waterfall slowly disappearing. Instead the air gets grows warmer and thicker, something you would expect from a place called "Hotland". As you come to an opening, you can see just how this place got its name. The whole place looks like the insides a volcano. Lava flowing like water and dry, rocky platforms connecting a path. Just up ahead, you spot Flowey sitting next to what appears to be Undyne, though you didn't quite expect to find her lying down like this.**

 **As you get closer, you notice she's not looking very well. Flowey's vines hastily are fumbling with her armor. "I'm trying to get her armor off, I thinks she has a heat stroke, hurry and get some water from the cooler."**

 **A very out of place looking watercooler stands on the edge of the boulder you're standing on. It's probably placed there for the monsters from the waterfall. None the less you hurry over there, grab a cup and press the button. Though a very unfortunate problem comes up. "Flowey, it's empty!"**

 **Flowey's eyes hastily darts up to meet yours "Are you serious?"**

 **"Of course I am!" You almost shout**

 **"What about the sea tea." Flowey suggests "Do you still have any left?"**

 **"No I drank it all."**

 **"Why!? You said it tasted like marsh water?"**

 **"Seasoned marsh water." You correct him "it's slightly better than normal marsh water."**

 **"We don't have time for this! Don't you have any other liquids?"**

 **You take off your backpack and frantically start searching for a bottle of water you remember being in there. While you do find,it has a hole in the bottom and it's empty. "Guess that happens when jump out from cliffs on an hourly basis." you say to yourself.**

 **Emptying the rest of the stuff in your bag, you hold it over undyne and attempt to squeeze any water you can out from there. It doesn't end up being more than a few drops, though. The heat of the flowing lava is already starting to evaporate the dampness your clothes too.**

 **Seeing you have no success, Flowey is starting to get frantic "If don't do something she could die!"**

 **You sit down and try to help getting her armor off. It's a little complicated but you finally manage to open it up. Undyne's gaze still looks distant, as if she could pass out at any given moment. Suddenly you get a flashback to a discussion you to someone about survival. Specifically something they brought up about a technique to cool off in a desert. But the thought of it does make you a bit uncomfortable.**

 **"Flowey, you don't happen to have any ideas?"**

 **"We could go back to the waterfall to get-… No, you smashed down the bridge, besides the place is probably swarming with guards now…"**

 **"Okay I think I know what to do." You stand up "Flowey, turn around."**

 **Flowey looks confused "Why?"**

 **"Just do it! This is life or death, Flowey!"**

 **Just as you asked, flowey shifts in the gravel around him to spin around and look the other way. You take a deep breath tell yourself you're doing this to save someone in need, it doesn't make this situation any less weird though. Flowey patiently looks away and awaits for you to pull a miracle out nowhere. Though as a few seconds pass and Flowey manages to connect the dots. "Are you peeing on her?"**

 **"I don't see you coming up with any better ideas!"**

 **Flowey makes a sound that hints him to feeling just as uncomfortable as you. "I really hope she unconscious by now."**

 **You hurry to finish what you must have been the most awkward seconds in your life, when a small bump suddenly sounds from up ahead, causing your attention to shift to the path. You find short, yellow, reptile looking monster just staring you. Down at their feet lies a full water container, fitting to refill the the watercooler. She probably dropped it, which would have made the "bump" sound. Just as you thought this couldn't get any weirder.**

 **"Hi" You say to her "Sorry you had to see that."**


	19. Chapter 19 - Progress

A/N Wow, I actually managed to be even later than usual. I think? I don't keep track of how late I've been recently. Whatever, late or not, I know I've already said it a thousand times, but I really want to finish this story. So don't worry, even if it's late updates will be there eventually.

Despite the awkward first meeting, the reptilian monster turned out to be fair enough. Her name is Alphys, apparently she's friends with Undyne. With her help, you managed to drag Undyne to a nearby work facility. It's lab, though more "homey" than you would expect. Judging by the garbage and miscellaneous not very work related items, you could easily get the impression that she lives here. Walking past a computer setup, you pick up a dvd case lying on her table. The cover displays a girl and a demon or dragon like creature with the title "Quran Crimson" written on it.

"I didn't even know they made stuff like this on dvd."

"What are you at?" Flowey asks

Before you realise she returned, alphys snatches the case out of your hands and throws it back on the table. "Don't touch that!" she scoffs at you. She then walks over to Undyne and drops a soaked lab coat over her. Lazily, she proceeds to adjust it with her left foot.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Flowey asks alphys.

"She'll be fine, probably awake in few minutes too." Alphys looks up from Undyne. "I'm assuming you did this to her? By the way, you know the guard is tearing the whole underground apart looking for a human, right?."

"Yeah, I'm well aware of that by now. Undyne actually tried to kill me just a little while ago, though you can see how that turned out."

Alphys quickly eyes you over before saying more "You're hardly even hurt, you must be dangerous, even for a human."

"Thanks, I guess." You lean up the wall next to a sack of cat food

"It's not that I want to fight you, but since you're a monster shouldn't you try to kill me too?"

"If Undyne couldn't touch you what am I supposed to do? It doesn't mean I plan to respect you though, so don't get cocky" She sighs "Besides, killing you wouldn't solve anything, despite what everyone believes."

"What do you mean?"

"Human souls are strong, if a monster were to absorb one, it would certainly grant them power. Problem is, they're so strong in fact that it is possible for them to take over the host and control them. If there wasn't any risk, Asgore could have just absorbed one, passed the barrier, murdered and absorbed your entire species and then returned here to break the barrier. But he doesn't and he doesn't intend to absorb anything before I can find a way for him to gain the full control."

You remain silent for a good moment to take in what alphys just told you.

"And despite this, the public still thinks that one last soul is all between the underground and the freedom of all monsters..." Flowey comments.

"Yep." Alphys replies in a deadpan tone.

"I take it you're Asgore technician/scientist, right?" You ask

"Why do you care?" Alphys says "Yes, my job is researching and engineering whatever Asgore asks me too."

"Then you might be just what we need." An idea starts to come together in your head "Alphys." You call out to her "Me, This flower and a few others are hoping to form a rebellion against Asgore. We're hoping to rebuild a government with the old queen in charge-" Alphys cuts you off mid sentence "What makes you think you can overthrow a whole nation? You're not the first human to come here with big ambitions."

"We don't have to overthrow a whole nation, if we can get the support from civil monsters or maybe even the guard, we could outnumber those loyal to Asgore and force him to step down.

"And that's why you sought after Undyne?"

"You're quick" Flowey Comments

Alphys pouts "I'm an embarrassment compared to the last royal scientist."

"Please, we could really use your help" You attempt to convince her

"Whatever, I'll help. But I hope you guys have a plan, cause I don't"

"Thanks, could you try to convince Undyne to help too, now that you're at it?

Alphys turns around to glance at Undyne who is slowly beginning to look more alive.

"Speaking of the devil" Alphys slowly walks up to Undyne, she's clearly still a bit groggy, but she's trying to stand up. Before Undyne can get up, Alphys places a foot on her shoulder, pushing her back on the ground. "You're not going anywhere in a state like that."

Undyne doesn't really respond with more than a groan in between her panting.

"There's a human and a Flower that wants to talk to you, by the way." Alphys gestures over over to you.

Undyne doesn't even bother to look up, she just curls up while remaining on the ground. Seeing as she has no way of escaping now, you take a chance and try to talk to her again. "I know we haven't had the best first meeting, but we could still really use your help." She doesn't respond "I know you fear Asgore but if we can just get the support of the royal guard. Strength lies in numbers. You could be the one we need to save the whole underground Just… At least think about it"

"No" Undyne musters between her quick breaths. "I'll help you"

"Well, with that out the way." Alphys states "What exactly do you want from us?"

You take moment to consider your next course of action. "Flowey, how do you imagine monsters would react if they found out Asgore doesn't intend to use the souls to escape?"

"I don't know, it has to vary between individuals... Asgore has everyone under control using fear. Since you're a human with a pretty intimidating power, maybe we could fight fire with fire?"

It's an interesting idea. But it does need more specific planning to execute.

"Maybe I could help with that." Alphys meekly states, rushes over to a table and grabs something before setting it up a large computer in the middle of the room.

"You suddenly got really into this, huh?" You comment

"Do you want my help or not?!"

"Sorry." You say, more ironically than anything "What's your plan?"

"I'm gonna interrupt all underground television, you know like an emergency broadcast."

"With that thing?"

"Yeah?" She gives you a confused look.

"You're gonna do an emergency broadcast with a webcam?"

"It's the best I have at the moment!"

"What do you plan to say?"

"It'll have to be brief yet frightening, it can't be too well planned either, that'll just make it look like we're scared." Alphys grabs a pen and scribbles down a few words on her arm. "I think I have it. Undyne, don't sit up yet. Just keep looking miserable on the ground for a bit longer. Human, go stand next to Undyne, just lean up a wall or something.

"You wanna use Undyne's current condition for scare factor?" You ask her

"That was my plan yes."

'"Clever" You say as you walk down the lab as she asked you to.

"Quiet" Alphys says "I'll have mentally prepare for a bit, just give a minute."

"Got it"


	20. Chapter 20 - Before the Storm

A/N Aye, in response to a question by user Nulli (Thanks for the review btw) I have thought about making an "aftermath" chapter, but I doubt I'd go for a full sequel.

We're slowly nearing the end though, I've been pretty excited to get around to this part, since it's the following events I've been planning since the start of the story. I certainly don't wanna overhype this, I can only hope the next few chapters are gonna live up to what I've been planning all along.

Alphys finally seems to make up her mind as she presses a button and starts talking "I would apologize for this interruption, but I'm not going to, as there's more important tasks at hand. The human is currently still alive and has now started a rebellion to overthrow Asgore's rule. Any attempts at eliminating the human has failed, including a direct attack from commander Undyne. The said commander is currently unavailable as she still has yet to recover from her engagement with the human, which leaves me in charge. Due to Asgore's immoral, self absorbed, cruel and wretched monarchy, I have decided to put my faith in the human over Asgore. This is a decision I made due to the fact that Asgore doesn't care about the underground. If he did, he would have absorbed the first soul, used it to cross the barrier, found six more humans and returned to break the barrier. I can go into detail with his ordered human experiments, or other reasoning he is in no place to rule as king, later. So now, I will ask of the royal guard to retreat from the borders of the waterfall and join this human in their endeavor. I repeat again, the royal guard's order is to retreat from the waterfall's borders and help the human overthrow Asgore's thrown. A new leader has already decided, the previous queen, Toriel, will be in charge again after Asgore's demise. The royal guard as well as anyone else wishing to participate in history, meet the human just outside the Core's entrance as soon as possible. Again, the royal guard is ordered to meet with the human just outside the entrance to the core, to storm the castle and overthrow Asgore. Any civilians wishing to participate are welcome as well. That is all." Before shutting off, Alphys turns the camera in your direction, ending the broadcast with a shot of you standing next to Undyne.

"Well Hell's broken loose, now I'm expecting you to take control of it."

"What if no one will show up? What if the guard shuts down the road to New Home?" Flowey starts questioning.

Alphys adjusts her glasses before lazily peering over her shoulder "Let's hope won't be the case."

And just like that, the underground's fate has been reduced to a question of how well you'll be able to handle the next few hours. "Are we just gonna go out and hope for the best then?"

"Yes, there's an elevator just outside. Take it too R3 and head to your right. New Home is through a guard barrack, you can't miss it." Alphys explains "You mentioned you had to few others to help your little cause right? I'll suggest you get ahold of them now if you want any help."

Just as Alphys finishes up, you feel a buzzing from your pocket. "Speaking of the devil." You comment and draw the phone up to your ear.

"Have you lost your mind?!" A robotic screech sounds from the other side.

You can't help but feel a little successful seeing how quickly the word's gotten around ."Saw the broadcast, did you?"

"You've just declared civil war, you realise that right?"

"Yeah... that just kind of happened." You say "Though it's now or never if we wanna overthrow Asgore's rule"

"Do you know just how crazy all of this sounds?"

"Of course I do, I get it's sudden and probably kind of scary too. But nonetheless it's something we have to get over with."

"I get it, believe me I want this as much as anyone else."

"Just focus on keeping Toriel safe, I think me and Flowey can handle the rest.

"No, now that the news is out, the guard is gonna be looking for Toriel. If they find her in my home we'll both be done for."

The idea of Mettaton's plan stirs up a bit of worry in you. "They'll probably just scout the Ruins, I doubt they'll come to you looking for her. How are you even gonna get here? There's gotta be more guards out now, more than ever."

"We already managed slip out, there's a river running from here right up to Alphys Lab, so don't worry about." He reassures.

"If you say so. Be meeting you here?"

"Of course, I'll call back soon." and with, Mettaton hangs up

You turn around to find Alphys conversing with Undyne, who in the meanwhile seem to be much better. Alphys then turns her gaze back to you "Who called" she asks emotionally

"He's a Robot named Mettaton, he's been protecting Toriel. Now he insists she should hide with you while we attack."

"Mettaton, huh? That's funny. Anyway, Toriel is with him I presume?"

"Yeah, he said they're already on their way." You explain

"Probably sailing with that creep down by the river. They best hurry it up though, we're short on time as it is." Alphys comments "But while we're waiting, I'd like to hear a bit more about your soul."

"What do you mean?"

"Undyne told me she was completely unable harm you. I would appreciate it if you could elaborate on that."

Knowing Alphys position as scientist, you had been expecting her to ask about that eventually "I don't know if now is the time"

"Of course it is." She almost yells "If you really are indestructible I could have prepared weapons for you. Imagine the possibilities! A suicide bomber that doesn't die, or I could just cover you in nitroglycerin and light you on fire! Try to think of the sheer terror of a flaming human fighting through-"

"Calm yourself please." You snap her out her twisted little fantasy

"No, this is important." She snares

"Listen, I actually tried lighting myself on fire when I was 4 and it's… pretty fun actually. But it took my all my hair. ALL of it, the eyebrows too and I don't wanna look like a cancer patient again."

"So you are immortal?!" Alphys eyes light up

"Yes, but… I still don't know if what you're saying is a good idea. I know we're probably already holding a bad image down here, but we still wanna come out as peace advocates. I think this is a little over the top. Could I just settle for having your number instead."

"Well, you're no fun at all." Alphys snares and snatches your phone out of your hand. She stares at it for a good second before taking it with her up an escalator.

It hardly feels like moment before alphys has already snuck up on you drops the phone back in your hands. "There, I typed my number and added a few adjustments."

"Like what? A flamethrower?" you question more joking than anything

"Yeah, that too." She says and adjusts her glasses

"Thanks, I certainly couldn't do without that."

"Why you're welcome, there's a lot of other good stuff too."

"Yes, Alphys, I'm sure there is." You say and let out a sigh.

A buzz then sounds from the phone, indicating you got a new text message. "Wait, this phone didn't have texting?" You say aloud "Just how much did you do to it? And more importantly how old that girl in the picture you set to the wallpaper?"

"You like it?"

"No." You mutter

"It's from a show called Oni Chacha, you should totally give it a-"

"Alphys!" You cut her off mid sentence, hoping to avoid her going in further details with her strange taste in fiction "The text is from Mettaton. They're here."

"Why didn't you say so?"

"Because you were too busy talking about weird japanese stuff. Now go get the door"

"Fine!" She shouts "But not because you told me to!" Hastily, she then proceeds to stomp away towards the door. You hardly notice when Flowey quietly creeps up beside you from between the floor tiles. "At this rate we'll be in New Home in no more than a few minutes, are you ready for this?"

"What exactly is New home?"

"Right, sorry. It's the name for the town/area where Asgore resides. The castle is only a few minutes walk away when we get there."

"I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." You say. "Still, this all feels pretty unreal."

"I know what you mean." Flowey replies


	21. Chapter 21 - Inside

You quietly sit and wait to the soft humming of the elevator's engine. Having a chance to see Toriel again was nice, but with everything going on, you can't stop to just yet. Not while the underground is still tearing itself apart trying to get to you. Toriel had to stay with Alphys and Undyne as agreed, so it's just Mettaton, Flowey and you. Mettaton seems optimistic, hopeful about the situation. Flowey on the other hand is very worried. Of course, if he's seen so many humans come and gone it only makes sense for him to be scared. Then there's you. Your mind is clouding up with anticipation and fear, you're trying to figure out what you're actually gonna do when you find Asgore. As well as how you're gonna get through to him if things turn out worse.

"Do you think we'll make it?" Flowey breaks the silence, making it apparent just how quiet the elevator actually is.

"Of course we will." Mettaton assures "We're the best the underground has to offer. My body was made for fighting humans, but I can kill monsters just as easily. Then we have you, who's literally immortal, and we can still call Alphys for backup if worst comes to worst."

"Actually Mettaton, we were hoping to solve this without violence." You tell him.

"It's noble and all, but you don't actually mean that do you? If anyone in the underground won't listen to reason it's Asgore, that is if you can even get past his guards like that."

"That's why we're in this elevator." You remind him.

Alphys had originally intended for you to get into the core through the guard barracks. That was your plan too, but after talking a bit with Alphys you managed to come up with a better idea. As it turns out Alphys has an elevator in her lab leading into the core too. Since Alphys' announcement from earlier claimed you'd gather with guards and civilians who believed in your cause, Asgore's bodyguard would expect you to break into the core through the guard barrack. Making them unprepared if you were to sneak into the Core from another way.

"I hope this works" Flowey mutters. "If they've guarded the insides too..."

"We'll find a way, that's what we do best." You say.

"If you two insist on going pacifist I'll follow, but I'm not making any promises if things get out of hand." Mettaton just finishes his sentence, before a ding tells you the elevator has stopped. The doors slide open and a chill creeps up your spine as you stand up. As quiet as you can, the three of you walk up to the doors and peak out in each direction. It's dark, darker than you had imagined. Jet black walls and long halls extend in several directions like a maze. The only light source is a faint glow emanating from white circuit like lines along the walls.

"So this is where Asgore's castle resides?" You ask.

Mettaton carefully ventures out of the elevator, checking all directions before turning back to you. "No, that is in New Home, which is located directly above here. This is just a colossal generator converting the heat into electricity. It powers everything down here, ask Alphys for more if you want a lecture." Mettaton explains "Anyway, I think it's this way" He states and proceeds to hurry off in a direction.

You and Flowey pick up your pace to follow him "Alphys built all this?" You ask.

"Not Alphys, this is the work of her predecessor, the previous royal scientist." Flowey states "Creepy fella."

"Alphys seems to admire him though." Mettaton adds.

Mettaton leads you through the dark hallways and around a few turns. You're looking around for another elevator Mettaton insists should be around here. Luckily the area doesn't seem to be guarded, so you're left to explore in peace. Eventually he locates the spot you've been looking for across a long bridge. It's grey and held up by a metal grid below it, with a few glowing bulbs to illuminate the edge. You carefully peak out, but you can't even see the bottom through a thick layer of something clouding the air.

"Breathe carefully, the ozone is bad for your lungs." Flowey says

It surprises you a little that Flowey knows something as specific that, and not only about this place, but about human biology as well. Then again, if he's been following humans for such a long time it only makes sense he would learn something. You push it out of your mind and pick up the pace as Mettaton comes to a halt.

In front of you is a large gate, looking at all the fancy details decorating it, it's quite obvious it's leading somewhere important.

"That's it?" You ask

"It is." Mettaton states "There's a little hallway and another elevator on the other side, it should take us directly to New Home."

"Then let's go." You say "We shouldn't stay here any longer than we have to."

Mettaton reaches his upper right hand out towards a button next to the door. "Right on it."

A loud siren goes off the second Mettaton touches the button, the door in the meanwhile doesn't budge.

"They tricked us." Flowey mutters.

Mettaton repeatedly tries to push the button over and over again, but to no avail. "Not now! We're too close!" Mettaton yells and slams two fists into the wall. He spends a few seconds just staring at the locked gate, before he then rolls a little back and gazes out over the bridge you came from. Thoughts race through your head, you try to think up anything, but with the panic fogging up your mind you can't concentrate. Mettaton suddenly turns halfway back and looks straight at you. "They don't know it's you." He says in a rather hollow tone. "Do something, try to figure out anything to get this door open. I'll run out there and out find the guards, if I can keep them busy and away from the here you still have time to escape."

"Is this really a good idea?" Flowey says "Don't get hurt okay?"

"I can take on a small army, don't worry about it." Mettaton assures

"We don't have time to argue, Flowey" You step up and say "Go Mettaton, we'll try to think up something."

Mettaton quickly spins around, facing the screen in his front away from you. You haven't noticed before now, but there's a large switch on his backside "Get that switch for me." He orders.

You hastily do as he instructs. The switch is heavy, requiring you to use both of your hands.

As soon as you release your grip, his whole body just seems to break open. The large metal casing that previously was part of Mettaton cracks open to reveal a mess of wires and metallic parts. Faster than you have a chance to react, something crawls out and leaps out over across the bridge. The sheer speed it moves with makes difficult for you to catch any details before he's gone. You only see a flash of that black, red and metallic creature that Mettaton just revealed himself to be. Before you know it, he's already out of your sight without another word.

With Mettaton out the way, you look back at the gate as an idea crosses your mind. You pull out your phone with the intention of calling Alphys for help, that is until you notice a new option in your phone menu. It simply reads "bomb". Apparently Alphys took herself the liberty to add that anyway. Good thing that she did. "Flowey‚ take cover."

Without another word you close your eyes and press the button. The explosion is loud, louder than anything you've ever heard. If it hadn't been for your perseverance, you'd likely be deaf by now. When you open your eyes, you find yourself half buried in the back wall, with the phone still in your hand. Though what previously was a gate has now been degraded to a hole in the wall.

"It worked!" Flowey yells

Your crawl out of the wall and hurry through the broken gate. Just like Mettaton described there's a small hall with a path leading out of it. Turning around a you run down another hallway before finally running into another elevator. As soon as you see Flowey digging his way up from the elevator tiles, you hit the button causing the elevator to go up.

Just as you hear the elevator's engine starting, you drop to the ground and let out a breath you didn't realise you had been holding. "We made it."

"So far so good" Flowey still sounds nervous "But after that explosion someone had to have heard us."

"Is there any way to New Home other than this elevator?" You ask

"No." Flowey says "Everything between New Home and the rest of the Underground travels through here."

"Perfect" You say as the elevator comes to a stop. For once you had hoped it would take a bit longer to arrive, after all that you could use break. Nonetheless you still stand up and pull out your phone. Stepping out and making sure Flowey has left too, you press the the bomb function and throw the phone into the elevator in a single motion. The explosion hits you like a slap in the face but ruins the entire elevator shaft completely.

"I guess no one's gonna follow us now." Flowey mutters.

"Nope" you say and take a deep breath. "So far so good."


	22. Chapter 22 - Half a Story

A/N Wow, it's been 2 months? Late as ever, but I'm still here. Thanks for bearing over with me. I think you've had to wait for this story long enough, so I'll try to have the remaining chapters out before the year is over. See you again soon (I hope)

"Hello! Anyone?!" You call out.

"It doesn't make sense Flowey, why is there no guards here?"

"Maybe they've already left for the hotlands?" Flowey suggests

But why, that wouldn't make sense? "There's no reason for all of them to go, is there? Wouldn't it be a lot safer to have them split into groups and sp-"

"I don't know, we're almost there so if it's that important you can just ask him yourself." Flowey grumps.

"That's if he hasn't already escaped, for all we know this could be a trap."

"I doubt it." Flowey is quick to respond "He's not one for running away. It wouldn't surprise me if he had this whole area cleared so he could have the honor of facing you personally."

Despite Flowey probably knowing Asgore better than you, his theorising has yet to satisfy your attempt to rationalize the situation. "That would be awfully hypocritical, if he's so brave why even have guards in the first place?"

"You think too much."

"Maybe I do." You comment "Do you wanna talk about anything else then?"

"Is there anything else you would like to talk about?"

"Well… You've never told me exactly who you are, Flowey"

"I get it." He states "But I don't feel like talking about it. Besides it's a really long story."

"By the looks of it we've got plenty of time, this place is huge and we're not anywhere near something that looks like a castle."

Visibly tired, Flowey stops up and exhales before making eye contact with you. "I'm a child of Toriel and Asgore and I died along with the first human child. Happy now?" His story is vague to put it mildly, to you, it only raises more questions than answers. "You sure? You don't look very dead to me? And how exactly does two monsters give birth a flower? There's got to be more to it than that"

"When monsters die we turn to dust, the dust is then scattered over something with personal meaning to the said monster. In my case I was scattered over flowers planted on the grave of the first human."

You simply remain quiet, allowing for Flowey to continue. "At some point, Alphys started to experiment with determination. It just so happened that she wanted to test the result of injecting determination on a soulless object, specifically a Flower."

"I'm not entirely certain what I expected, but wow. That's quite a tale. Does that mean you really don't have a soul?"

Flowey simply remains silent

"Alphys didn't seem to recognize you when we saw her back in the lab, is she even aware she created you?"

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry for prying so much"

"It's okay, I should probably have told you this anyway." Flowey says

"Hey, Asgore is supposed to live in a castle right? If so, how far is there? This whole place just looks like a ghost town."

"Actually, the castle you saw in the waterfall is encaging New Home itself, Asgore's place is big and castle-ish, but mostly underground. Well more underground than the rest of here. It's found through an ordinary looking house just up there. I know it sounds strange, but I have a feeling you might actually recognize the place."

You quickly get what Flowey is trying to tell you as you spot a building up ahead "It wouldn't happen to be that house that looks exactly like Toriel's?"

"Actually, it would." Flowey disappears into the ground and pops up next to the white building's doorway. You pick up your pace to keep up with him. "So this is it?" You ask.

"Not really" Flowey is quick to respond "We're not even halfway there."

"I thought you said this was Asgore's place?"

"I also said it was big."

Part of you wants to roll your eyes at that statement. "That big?"

"Yep."

You step foot into the doorway "Well, the road is only getting shorter. You coming?"

"Actually I'll meet you on the other side. There's floorboards in there, I won't be able dig through that."

"I can just go in and find something to carry you in if you want me to."

"I'd rather not see the place again. Lots of bad memories."

"Okay, I'll see you in a minute I guess?"

"See you there." Flowey says before retracting into the ground.

The interior is just like Toriel's home too. It's a bit strange to see the same house, but far better kept this time and in a different color palette. Directly in front of you, you see the stairs leading downwards, presumably to where Flowey is waiting. But before you can get yourself to head down there, curiousity gets the better of you. Is this part of Asgore home? Why is this place exactly identical to Toriel's? And if Flowey has bad memories here, does that mean... You turn right and head down to where your room was in Toriel's house. If the interior shares the exact same design, there should be a child's room here. Creaking open your find a dark room, with two beds in each corner. A chill creeps down your spine as your suspicions turns out to be true. Part of you feels guilty for snooping, but curiosity keeps pushing you. Opening the door fully, you spot a piece of paper crumbled up in the corner. You carefully pace over to pick it up. Unfolding the note, you glance over the handwritten letters. "Toriel, I'm writing this to you because I know Asgore is not coming to look for us." Did Flowey write this? Or maybe the human did, you wonder. You lean towards the idea of the ladder, seeing as how the note doesn't refer to Toriel and Asgore as "Mom" and "Dad". You keep reading the note. It talks about Asgore, things he's said to the author, threats even. Things Flowey never mentioned. You scan last sentences as the note comes to an end. "They have nothing left for them up there, I have nothing left for me down here." That line can only mean Flowey is the author. "By the time you've read this, we've already taken our lives. Take this as my dying wish. Show this to the public and prove to them what Asgore really is."

Flowey never told you he died from a suicide, now that you think about it, Flowey never told you how he died at all. Furthermore you ponder over the "We". The note mentions a name you don't you recognize, but you can only guess it to be the first human. At the same time, that doesn't make sense. Flowey told you they died from an illness, didn't he?

And why is the note crumbled up here? The note specifically requests Toriel to show this to the public, why would she deny that? Had Asgore gotten to this note first? You stand up, but almost fall over from dizziness. So much is going through your head. Your sit down on the left bed, still staring at the note. Has Toriel even seen this? Should you take it with you? Can you even? What would Flowey say if he found out you had seen this? You stand up again and start walking towards the kitchen. Maybe some water could make you help you feel better. You pass through the foyer and the same living room you already know. When you stumble into kitchen you find a note on the fridge staring back at you. It catches your attention as it is not held by a magnet, but rather strapped into the fridge door with a knife. It simply reads: "Don't keep me waiting, human."


	23. Chapter 23 - Asgore

A/N Alright, we're almost there. Thanks for sticking around even though I update this so inconsistently. At least it didn't take a month or two this time. BTW 2 meters and 20 centimeters = 7 feet 2 inches. Remember that, maybe you'll need it.

"Hold." Flowey quietly tells you. "Through that door."

"That's it? That's the throne room?"

"If he was in the house, wouldn't you have seen him? I'd rather not imagine he'd be anywhere else."

Thinking back, you didn't check the room where Toriel's would have been. Though when you found the note Asgore left undoubtedly for you, you felt more than done exploring.

"If you're as indestructible as you've been so far I don't think he can hurt you, but I'll have to stay here for now. I'll try to help if things get worse but I can't promise anything." Flowey tells you.

"Can't you just reload if you get hurt? You have determination right?

"Maybe I already have reloaded." Flowey's response is vague, but you understand his message. Flowey said he'd be close by, but you're still gonna have to walk in there alone. Closing the last few steps between you and the gate you try to imagine what Asgore is gonna look like. You've heard lots about him, almost exclusively bad things, but this is the first time you're actually going to see him in person.

You pass the empty door frame and look up at someone sitting in a large golden throne.

"Hello?" You murmur.

Assuming you're looking at Asgore, you can't help but be a bit surprised. Considering the things you heard about him you had expected him to look a bit more like a demon.

"Took you long enough." the monster before you replies.

Just like Toriel, he also looks a lot like a goat, but more robust and his horns are longer. He also has hair unlike her, it's blond and swept back. His clothing is quite fancy, with a long red cape and a fancy shirt underneath it, it actually looks like something you would expect a king to wear. Though he is definitely intimidating standing tall of at least two meters and twenty.

You step inside the room and start walking up to the throne. The lighting inside is a bit strange with only orange light coming from above. You look up to find the ceiling covered in holes. "Sunlight?" you say aloud.

Having been down here, if only for a day or two, you've already gotten used to the lack of natural light.

"Yes that is sunlight, but I believe there are more important matters at the moment." He says and stands up.

"You're Asgore right?" You ask without looking away from the sun rays

"That I am." He replies

"Why no guards?"

"They haven't been able to stop you from getting this far, I don't see why I should bother." Asgore starts to explain. "They're better off going after the laboratory. Even if I can't kill you, maybe I it's not too late to get Alphys. That is if my guards are even going to listen to me at this point."

"What do you mean you can't kill me?" You ask him, curious as to how much he really knows

"I think you know what I'm talking about, or maybe you don't. I've heard talk among the guard, but I suppose the only way to find out would be to try for myself."

The last part makes you turn your attention to Asgore who is starting to pull out a huge spiked mace.

"You want to fight me?"

"You don't have to fight back if that's what you're asking."

With no other warning he swings at you and sends you flying into the nearest wall. As it turns out he's a lot faster than he looks. While it still hurts, you take comfort in knowing he still can't hurt you. After several minutes of one sided fighting Asgore finally seems to tire himself out. Still panting Asgore drops his mace in the flowers surrounding his throne. "I suppose there's nothing else to do." He mutters. "Get up human, follow me."

Just as he asked you stand up, alive as ever and follow him into a dark hallway. The room is very dimly lit, but it doesn't seem to bother Asgore as he walks up to a corner and fiddles with something on the wall. He stands there for a few seconds before something in the back wall opens to reveal a vivid rainbow light that now illuminates the entire room. Asgore slowly walks up to the light and picks out a glass jar hosting a deep indigo light.

"Do you know what this is?" he asks you and places the glass jar in your hands.

"A soul?"

"A human soul." Asgore says "If I could help it, you would be sitting on that shelf right next to this one."

Your eyes are fixated on the jars, you didn't realise before now, but there's actually a missing color. Just as Asgore said there's an empty glass jar sitting right where a violet light would complete the rainbow. You're so absorbed in the jars that you don't realise Asgore's left the room before he's already returned again. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Truth be told I can't use any of these. I suppose I could, but the power wouldn't be under my control. So I've decided." You're shocked as Asgore hammers his mace down over the glass in your hands, breaking it apart.

"If I can't have these, no one ever will." Without another word he swings his mace through all the other jars, shattering every one of them. You're left in shock over what Asgore actually just did, and it takes you a moment to comprehend that it really just happened. Though, you calm down a little as an idea enters your mind.

You dash out of the room and past Asgore Throne, headed to the hallway where Flowey said he'd wait. Though when you get there, it's empty. "I saw too." You turn around to see Flowey digging up from the ground behind you.

"Reload, there's still time!"

"No there isn't, one of those souls has determination and it's stronger than mine. Now that it's free, I can't save or load anything, their determination overwrites my power."

And just when you thought things couldn't get any worse.

"Looking for your that Flower?" You hear a voice from the throne room "I had Alphys make that thing, though we didn't expect it to be self conscious. If you brought it here I might finally kill it now that we're at it."

Having heard so much about Asgore and how cruel he was supposed to be, you had low expectations for him, but not before now had you grasped how evil he actually is. Finally understanding what everyone has been telling all this time, you slide of your backpack off your shoulders and start digging through it. "Flowey I'm sorry I didn't realise this sooner, I could have prevented all of this.

"Being sorry is not gonna fix anything, trust me." Flowey replies.

As you finally find the same ruined notebook, you start hearing a metallic noise approaching from behind. Turning around you're greeted with the sight of Asgore dragging his mace along the floor as he slowly wanders closer.

You close your eyes and in a single strike you cut through his entire being with that notebook in your hands.

All three of you are shocked at the sight.

Asgore draws his hand up to feel the wound.

"So that's how it is." Asgore falls down on his knees.

As huge as he is, you can still barely look him in the eyes.

"Asgore, this isn't personal. I don't think you ever asked to be like this, so I'm not going to blame you for doing what you deep down felt was right, but that doesn't mean I won't stop you for the sake of everyon-"

"Shut up." Asgore interrupts you. "Don't glorify your actions as if I actually as if I actually care."

All of you remain quiet as Asgore slowly disappears in a pile of dust.

You're a about to say something when you notice a green vine hastily creeping up the dust and grapping around a white glowing orb that Asgore left behind. "Flowey?" You ask aloud.

Flowey doesn't respond, instead he sprouts up from the dust pile and starts dragging the white soul closer to his being. It's shines too bright for you too see clearly, but it's clear something is happening. Before you know it, Flowey looks different, that is if it's even Flowey anymore.

"Did you just-"

"Absorb his soul? Don't worry, he's not strong enough to take control over me. Determination you know." His voice is different, though it still sounds kinda like Flowey.

"Is this how you looked before, you know."

"I think so, yet I still feel dead as ever." He says.

"You look pretty alive to me."

"No, not that kind of dead. I mean Asgore's soul has no compassion, you show have realised that by now. I don't even know if this is better than being soulless. I don't expect you to understand."

"Maybe I would understand if you told me."

"Told you what?" He asks

"I found a suicide note crumbled up in the corner of your old room, I know I shouldn't have gone in there without telling you, so I suppose this one is on both of us. But you told me the first human died from an illness, if that's true then none of this makes any sense."

He's quiet for moment, then he takes a deep breath. "You want to know the truth so badly? Fine. I'm just like Asgore, and I've always been."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm also a sociopath."


	24. Chapter 24 - Perseverance

A/N Wow, it's been a long journey. It's to the point where I can hardly even remember what I've written anymore. Thanks to everyone for actually reading this, to be honest I think this story could have been done a lot better, but I'm still glad I finished because this experience has taught me so much about writing. Stay perseverant people~

"The first human, when they came down here, I was the one that found them. I was scared, I had never seen a human before, but I knew they were the reason we were trapped down here and how powerful they were supposed to be. They came through the same hole you fell through, I found them shortly after yelling for help. When I saw they were human, I ran to tell Toriel and Asgore. Toriel wanted go help them, and so she did. Asgore was very cautious about a human being here, though he seemed to agree after talking it over with the royal scientist, the one before Alphys. I don't know why they didn't just kill them. Well, the scientist I mentioned had a pretty unhealthy fascination with that human. That creep probably just kept them around to learn more about your human biology.

Anyway, Toriel took care of the human, so everything worked out in the end. Slowly, everything returned to normal. We continued living like we always had and people got used to there now being a human among the royal family. Most monsters were still afraid of the human though, me included. But since I lived with them I eventually got used to it and started talking with them. Of course I didn't really care about them as a person, I couldn't. Yet they were strange. I felt unnatural when I was around them, maybe it was a human thing? I didn't understand at first. I couldn't hurt them or take advantage of them the same way I could with monsters. I mean I could, but it felt different, it felt wrong.

Do you know how determination has a way of shifting reality around it? I started feeling empathy that I didn't have. I didn't want to at first, it made me angry, it was scary. But when I started to accept it, it felt fulfilling. I didn't understand what it was back then, it was still too new for me, but Asgore started to notice. Apparently he recognized my feelings far better than I did myself. He asked me to stop feeling like that, he didn't want his offspring to not be like him. Yet I couldn't. He then told me that if I didn't stop he would kill us both, me and the human. So I killed both of us before he could get to it. And left that note you found. The human didn't rebel, they just went along and did as asked them like they always did.

Then one day I woke up as a flower. I felt dead as ever. But I had determination just like they did, I could do anything. Anything but feel the love for another being like they made me. I tried. I helped others, I was nice to everyone but I couldn't feel anything. Somehow everything just got worse, more humans died, monsters got hurt. You've seen what the Underground has become. Now I have a soul in me again, and yet everything I feel is the same sociopathic emptiness I was born with."

"About that soul." You say "Alphys told us souls can overpower the host and take control. That being said, do you really think absorbing Asgore's soul was a good idea?"

"Only souls with enough power can take control." He corrects you "I have determination, not Asgore, he's not taking control over anything."

You look down at the notebook, still clenched in your hand. "Your real name is Asriel, right? The suicide note, it mentioned that name."

"Yes, that's correct." Asriel responds.

"Asriel, do you think there's still a way to fix this?"

"No." He says "This souls are gone, hope is looking grim as ever. Unless you can conjure up miracle, it looks like we're gonna die down here."

"Maybe I can, but not alone."

"I'm listening."

"Everything we need to free the underground is the power of seven human souls. That's all, so if we can find just six people who are willing to help, we don't need to kill or absorb any more souls."

"And where exactly do you plan find six humans?"

"The surface of course. We just have to cross through the barrier."

"It's not that easy, if anyone could pass through there wouldn't be any point in that barrier to begin with. Neither humans nor monsters can pass through, only the combined power of… You already know this don't you?"

"I told you I couldn't do it alone. I need your soul."

"If anything you should be the one to die, then I could absorb your soul and then we could just kill six humans to get the power to break the barrier."

"If a monster passes through and just starts killing humans, we're never gonna achieve peace. Monsters were sealed away as a result of conflict, if we just force it open with violence we'll achieve nothing but restarting a war. If we on the other hand get humans to break the barrier themselves and accept monsters back into society, we're much more likely to get a peaceful resolution. Flowey, no Asriel, look if you can't feel anything for the Underground, just consider it a trade. I get soul and you get to feel again. If we're going to be sharing mind, body and spirit, you should be able feel my emotions. And on top of that, the entire Underground gets freedom. Then everyone's happy right?"

Asriel goes quiet for a few seconds. "Fine, you can do it. But before you kill me, I want to know one thing. Why did you come down here?"

After all this, you completely forgot you actually jumped with a purpose in mind, now though, you remember it clearly. "It's a bit funny actually. A few days ago I got a task in school to write an essay about a self chosen subject. It had to be related to social studies though. Normally I think politics and that kind of stuff is pretty boring, so I figured instead of writing about something I knew I wouldn't like, maybe I could make it interesting. That's when I thought of monsters, we know very little about their society, but maybe it could be an interesting subject. I happen to live fairly close to Mt Ebott. and… you get the idea."

"You came to the Underground, knowing full well you might never return, to write an essay? You're absolutely insane."

"Maybe, but good thing I am, because in the end we're about to save all monster kind right?

"Yeah, let's just hope this works."


End file.
